Aneki
by TPKTheStoicTPK
Summary: An accident during the bank robbery months in the past leaves Uiharu injured and shatters Kuroko's trust in Judgment. Now she has turned to the other side of the law. But though she is now a notorious delinquent Kuroko still must face the same perils of school, friendship, and love.
1. Verdict

"Aneki! Aneki!"

Those familiar words echoed around the deserted construction site, bouncing off the red steel girders and mounds of earth that might one day become a towering skyscraper, but at the moment spoke only of unused potential.

Sharp eyes flashed in the noontime sun, darting towards the source of those words. They did not need to dart far, as the person who spoke them soon knelt in front of her deferentially as she leaned against one of the many pieces of construction machinery left around the site.

The teenager who knelt in front of her was perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old, with hair dyed blond and gelled into backwards facing spikes that could not help but give the impression of a hedgehog.

He wore the uniform of his high school though the pants had been cut above the knees to give his long, powerful legs greater freedom. A green cloth bandana was tied to his ankle above a pair of expensive running shoes.

Everything about his appearance and the aura around him screamed one word; delinquent. And indeed that's what he was, what everyone gathered around in this construction site was.

And in front of this teen stood the top delinquent, the Sukeban who ruled their gang with an iron fist, and it was to this girl who he now spoke.

"Aneki," he repeated once more with an excited smile that could only mean one thing.

"They're on their way, Fujin?" The girl leaning on the crane asked. Her own voice was calm, but a skilled ear could hear the impatience cutting into her words. She was not a patient person to begin with, used to having everything done instantly, and she had been waiting here for far too long.

The dirt and dust that the wind blew off the earthen mounds was starting to dirty the skirt and vest of her uniform, and the rivets of the crane's treads were digging into her back uncomfortably.

"Yep, about thirty of them," the teen, Fujin, confirmed, standing up again.

The girl's eyes scanned the area again, resting upon the nine people who stood there. She heard one of them laugh. "Outnumbered three to one? Not the best odds... should half of us go home to give them a fighting chance?"

Fujin nodded in agreement with his comrade's confidence, but continued with his report. "Several of them have weapons as well. The usual bats and pipes. I think I saw a chain too," He chuckled at the cliché, "not sure about knives or smaller weapons though."

The girl nodded. The teen's ability was speed, not clairvoyance, so the basic picture was all she could get. Well that wasn't exactly true...

Her head shifted almost imperceptibly to the left and her gaze met the dark brown eyes of one of the other men. He nodded as he saw her eyes on him and said, "Sixteen level 0's, seven level 1's, five level 2's, a level 3, and a level 4. The level three feels a little like an Aero Hand but I'm not entirely sure. The level four is definitely a Hydrokinetic."

The girl allowed herself a little smile as she reached into her bag and pulled out a rope made out of eight differently colored bandanas all tied together, looking almost like a magician's cloth.

"It's him then," she noted as she tied the rope around her waist and walked out into the middle of the construction yard. The other nine boys and girls moved to cover her. Then they waited.

* * *

They didn't need to wait long as the group they were expecting soon rounded the canvas covered fence that surrounded the construction site.

The leader of the group was at the front; he was a muscular man with sea blue eyes and a ridiculously big and gaudy hairstyle. His school uniform was plain, with a jacket which he had draped over his shoulders, pants that looked like they had been through a blender, and an aqua blue bandana wrapped around his forehead. It was the same bandana worn by the other twenty-nine people as well.

As he entered the construction site he glanced towards the center of the wide open area where the ten people were gathered and stopped for a second. Then he grinned and signaled to his men. They flooded in and spread out several yards away from the other group.

He had been expecting this confrontation. Up until recently, he and his gang had a prosperous business selling drugs and alcohol to the students of Academy City. But several weeks ago he got word that one of his dealers had been taken out in the middle of a deal.

At first he suspected a Judgment or Anti-Skill sting, but the dealer hadn't been arrested, so he chalked it up to a bit of bad luck. That was until more and more of his dealers had been taken out one by one,with almost surgical precision.

This time he had decided to come to the deal himself, along with his personal guard, and figure out who exactly had been getting in the way of his business.

He could say that he was not disappointed to see his opponent, but that would be a lie. The girl who seemed to be in charge wore the uniform of a middle school for high class little ojou-samas who probably wouldn't lift up their own cup of tea for fear of breaking a nail.

She was less than five foot tall with limbs that seemed as thin and breakable as sticks. Her auburn hair was long and flowed freely down her back, looking more fit on a noblewoman than a delinquent.

Really, the only hints that the girl in front of her was indeed the person who he thought she was was the faded green cloth tied around her neck, the athletic tape which wrapped around her - covering her fists, forearms, and elbows as well as her shins, and knees-, the black bands of iron construction nails on her thighs, the blue pieces of cloth dangling from her left fist, and of course the belt of bandanas around her waist.

She stepped back a half step with her right foot. To the teen it seemed as if she was drawing back out of fear, but in actuality she was simply getting into her stance.

Then she spoke in a voice that was a few degrees too cold for someone her age, "You are Mizuchi, leader of the Aqua Rectangles, sellers of illegal substances and general scumbags correct?"

Mizuchi stepped forward and laughed. "Indeed I am," he responded, before glancing at the ten delinquents arranged out before him. His gaze lingered for a second each time he spotted the green cloth tied to their hair or arms or legs.

"So this is the infamous Verdict? And you are its dreaded leader, Shirai Kuroko?" He laughed louder, this time everyone of his gang joining in on the mirth. "You really expect me to believe that a little brat like you managed to take down eight of this district's gangs?"

His gaze moved to the eight bandanas around the little girl's waist, each supposedly taken from the leader of a fallen gang, but more likely picked up at a fabric shop in that prissy little Garden of Education that housed her little Ojou-sama school. The pieces of cloth clutched in her left fist were undeniably the bandanas of the Aqua Rectangles, but that didn't mean anything.

"It will be nine after today," Kuroko responded, her sharp voice full of confidence. However there was a difference in the confidence she had and the confidence he had. His body exuded self-assurance and arrogance, his shoulders were relaxed, his chest was puffed out, and his chin was held high to allow him to look down on his opponent.

Kuroko sounded every bit as confident, but her stance was tense and low, like a compressed spring or a cobra ready to strike. The Sukeban's trained eyes darted around, making sure she knew the battlefield and could use it to her advantage. His confidence came from numbers and apparent power; hers came from herself.

"Oh really? You should just go back to playing with your dolls..." He chuckled, his chin rising an inch and a smirk crossing his features, "What makes you think a pathetic little brat like yourself could possibly beat us?"

All eyes were on Kuroko as the corners of her mouth twitched upwards in a smile, "Because... I am Verdict..." Suddenly she disappeared, reappearing an inch in front of Mizuchi, "And my verdict is guilty," she declared as she took a step forward with her right foot, placing it between his own, and driving her padded elbow directly into his collarbone.

She could feel the clavicle give way and break, disabling his right arm. The step also placed her directly in his guard, letting her grip the back of his head with her right hand and throwing him down onto the ground

* * *

The twenty-nine remaining members of the Aqua Rectangles were stunned. They'd all heard the stories of the teleporting devil of Verdict who will tear apart your body and soul if she catches you, but after seeing her appearance, they could not help but assume those rumors to be gross exaggerations.

Everyone always underestimated Kuroko, a fact she used to her advantage to gain the first strike. Then, while everyone was stunned at seeing this little girl so easily dispatch their boss, she would quickly follow up.

In most cases this follow up took the form of the bandanas she had collected from the defeated grunts of the gang being used to destroy any weapons the gang members had.

Chunks of bats and pipes fell away and clattered on the ground, the clanging metal ringing loudly in the stunned silence that permeated the air.

The clanging reverberated around the area, bouncing off the earthen mounds and piles of steel and concrete that littered the construction site. The sound was like a gong announcing the start of a match, and fittingly it was at this noise that the Level 3 that was Mizuchi's lieutenant recovered from his shock.

He stepped forward, drew back his open palm, ready to use his ability to blast this little girl into the bulldozer twenty feet behind this action was interrupted by Fujin's knee, which collided with the man's cranium with the momentum of an anvil dropped from a fifth story window. Had it hit him in the temple it would easily have caved his skull in, but as it was, it only clipped the top of his head, giving him a nasty concussion but no permanent damage.

Fujin's powerful jump, fueled by his ability, also served to propel him over the heads of the other members of the gang. He landed behind all thirty of them. Kuroko teleported behind them as well, to the right of center. Then the eight other members of Verdict charged in and the silence was broken.

It would be wrong to call Kuroko a bloodthirsty person. She did not revel in hurting others, she did not enjoy the feeling of blood caked under her fingernails, she did not seek out fights for the sake of fighting. To Kuroko, fighting would always be a means to an end, and that end was justice.

However, there was no denying how natural the fray felt to Kuroko. The smell of her opponent's sweat and blood; the taste of her own, unpleasant sensations anywhere else but on the battlefield. They were intoxicating, a rich perfume that summoned up something primal in Kuroko's heart.

But despite the primal nature of the act, Kuroko was exceptionally calm and levelheaded. One could easily tell from her eyes. They darted around, scanning everything around her, taking in every movement, every step, every twitch, every glance that her opponents made.

Years of martial arts training had taught her to read these seemingly benign motions and anticipate what her opponents would do and, when combined with the combat instincts that only months of almost daily street fighting could grant, react to their punches before they were even aware that they had thrown them.

The brutality of her street fighting experience, combined with the precision of her martial arts, made sure no movement was wasted. Each step brought her into position for one of her attacks, or out of range of one of theirs. Every change of stance allowed her to exploit an opening in her opponent's guard or to cover up any openings in her own. Every strike was quick and precise, meant to take down her enemy as quickly as possible.

The entire thing lent her movements a sort of fluidity and grace that almost made it seem as if she was dancing. An elegant waltz in which Kuroko danced to music she herself created. A brass section of their panicked breaths contrasting with her own calm exhales, a string orchestra of their pained groans mingling with her grunts of exertion, and finally the percussive beats of her fist and feet colliding with their flesh.

A beat where and when it shouldn't be meant something was wrong. It was Kuroko's only warning. A footstep from behind, though taken with care, was loud as a war drum to her. In the almost meditative state that the battle had induced, she had unconsciously gone too far into the fray and left her back open. She stepped to the side with her right foot, putting her back to a pile of girders and getting a view of her new opponent.

She was a little too slow to completely avoid his attack though as she felt sharp steel cutting into her flesh as a knife aimed at the base of her spine grazed her cheek instead. The wound was shallow and small but it stung like a hot brand on Kuroko's skin.

However, the pain didn't bother Kuroko. If anything it was fuel to the fire of her zen-like battle trance. She saw the massive opening the desperate lunge had created. She knew striking now would open her up to the opponent she had been engaged in before, but if she didn't then the man with the knife might recover, and a strike from a knife was worse than one from a fist.

So Kuroko took a half step forward and drove her left fist into the man's torso, just beneath his sternum, driving all air from his lungs.

Almost on cue the other one struck at her left shoulder. She rolled with the punch, using her right hand and his own momentum to flip him over her shoulder and straight into the chest of the other man.

* * *

After dealing with them she took another step back to the girders, allowing her to cover her back as she examined the battlefield.

She was slightly surprised to see that the battle was winding down, with only a few of the Aqua Rectangles still up and fighting, a fight that didn't last long as Verdict quickly knocked them out.

As the last member of the Aqua Rectangles fell Verdict quickly drew back, getting out of range of any not-quite-unconscious arms that could lash out at them. None of the ten were strangers to fighting, and caution that surpassed confidence had long been beaten into all of them.

Even with the battle over and the last echoes of the combat's sweet waltz dying out, the tension in the air was palpable. When a sudden noise cut through the silence one could almost see as Kuroko's heart and the heart of the others jumped out of their chests as they glanced around for the source.

As it turned out it was Kuroko's cell phone. The teleporter gave her heart a moment to slow down below hummingbird levels before answering it. "Moshi moshi?"

"Moshi moshi," was the polite reply from the other end. The voice that spoke was low, feminine, and almost melodic, but spoke with such little emotion that it was hard to imagine it coming from a human at all.

There was only one person Kuroko knew who spoke like that. It was her other lieutenant, Kaga-Tsuchi, who was currently out with the rest of Verdict cleaning up any hideouts that the Aqua Rectangles had.

"Our mission has been successful. All branches of the Aqua Rectangles have been destroyed. We have seized seventeen crates of various illicit substances and several thousands worth of currency in cash cards. We are awaiting your orders."

"I just finished up here too. I'll swing around to dispose of the crates, so just gather them all in one place. Ensure that nobody sneaks anything out of them and distribute the cash cards appropriately," Kuroko ordered Kaga-Tsuchi with a sigh.

"Understood," was her robotic reply.

Kuroko hung up and looked around at the other nine members of Verdict. "Mind handling clean up here?"

Fujin nodded. "No problem." His nose was bloody but didn't look broken. A few red spots that might turn into bruises colored his arms and legs, but otherwise he didn't seem too injured.

Kuroko nodded in reply, then teleported over to Mizuchi, reaching down and yanking the blue bandana from his head. Taking off the rope around her waist, she tied the newest addition onto the end before tying it back on. When that was finished, she disappeared from

sight altogether.

As Kuroko hopped through dimensions and between rooftops she could feel the wind whistling through her hair, distracting her from the stinging of her cheek and the throbbing of her shoulder.

She quickly arrived at the nearby hideouts and subsequently disposed of each and every crate of the alcohol and drugs that had been the primary source of the Aqua Rectangles income. She did this by teleporting them eighty meters down into the earth.

Perhaps it was not the most environmentally friendly solution, but it was the only one that didn't involve having highly illegal substances in their possession for what might be days before they could be properly disposed of.

When she completed that task Kuroko allowed herself to smile a little. "Not bad for a days work," she noted patting the blue bandana at her hip.

Kaga-Tsuchi nodded numbly before looking at her, "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Kuroko looked confused for a second before her eyes widened. She checked the time on her phone and nodded before disappearing without another word, not that she needed words to speak to a mind reader like Kaga-Tsuchi.

* * *

As Kuroko once again went from rooftop to rooftop thoughts of her recent victory were dancing in her mind. She couldn't say it was very surprising that she had won either.

The Aqua Rectangles were a small time gang primarily dealing with drug trafficking. They chose their members with a focus on stealth rather than combat ability. Verdict was not only a gang focused on combat, or rather focused on justice in Kuroko's mind, but it also had several more members than the Aqua Rectangles could claim to have.

The only reason they were outnumbered in the construction site was because Kuroko had sent most of her forces to deal with the hideouts.

Verdict had had over two-hundred and fifty people join its ranks over its 5 month long history, most of them from other gangs which had been defeated by Verdict. But though they had had such a large number of recruits their current forces numbered only seventy-three, including Kuroko and her two lieutenants, Fujin and Kaga-Tsuchi.

Unlike most gangs their numbers hadn't been culled through the arrests, death, or severe injury of their members. Rather it was because Verdict had incredibly strict rules that most delinquents found off-putting, making most of the recruits quit within the first couple weeks in the gang.

Kuroko did not allow her underlings to do any sort of drugs, alcohol, or even smoke. Any crime more serious than petty vandalism, especially if it involved hurting innocent civilians, was punished harshly by Kuroko. And because of Kaga-Tsuchi's level four mindreading ability, such a crime could not be hidden for very long.

Despite being delinquents, Kuroko ensured that the members of Verdict were perfectly law-abiding citizens other than the frequent assault and battery they committed on members of other gangs.

But somehow those fights always seemed to happen in places without cameras or agents of Judgment or Anti-Skill on patrol. This meant that ever since its inception, none of Verdict's members had ever gone to jail.

Because of this, whereas the members of other gangs spent the majority of their time harassing innocent people or committing petty crimes, most of the delinquents who were in Verdict spent their free time training. Training their skills, their ability, or their bodies. This meant they were a far more capable fighting force than the majority of other gangs.

* * *

But even ignoring the advantages Verdict had, the fact was that Kuroko rarely lost. Whether it was her gang or herself she typically won the battles that she was involved in.

It wasn't that she was undefeatable. Indeed, several months ago, before she had formed her gang, she had been beaten to a pulp almost every night that she went wandering the streets looking for enemies. But she had quickly grown strong and skilled enough to deal with most of the opponents she faced, and determined enough to deal with the rest.

That wasn't to say she had never lost since then, however. As ashamed as she was to mention any of her defeats, There had been a fair number of them.

One such defeat happened on the night she had come across Musujime Awaki, another delinquent teleporter whose ability, she begrudgingly admitted, was far superior to hers.

Kuroko had been utterly thrashed until a call had come for Awaki and the older girl had reluctantly, but immediately, needed to leave. But she had learned a valuable lesson on not depending on her abilities as much. If Kuroko were to fight against the other teleporter once more, she certainly would not depend on her ability so completely. Instead, she would rely more on her combat prowess to beat Move Point to a pulp.

Another fight she could not claim to have won, but would certainly never admit to losing, had been against Sogiita Gunha, the seventh ranked Level five who had beat up a couple of her underlings. His inexplicable ability had completely thwarted everything Kuroko could think to throw against him.

After trying everything and failing miserably with every attempt the teen had laughed, patted her on the back, and complimented her guts before leaving without fighting back at all. She had vowed revenge for the humiliation, determined to immediately root him to the spot next time with her nails or use a similar instant pin move.

Her vow was short lived however, when it was revealed that he had only beat up her underlings because he was protecting someone else. Because he had not set out to hurt her or anyone else, Kuroko's sense of justice would not allow her to persecute him.

Of course, she could blame those two losses on the differences in the strength of their abilities. One was a Level Five and the other was the most powerful teleporter in the city and a candidate for Level Five status.

Not every defeat she had suffered could be justified with that excuse though.

A few months ago she had the misfortune of running into Komaba Ritoku, the leader of Skill Out. Skill Out was a gang which Verdict had never gone after.

Though filled with level zeroes, their numbers and combat ability made them a force to be reckoned with, and any sort of all out war against the two would certainly end in Verdict's defeat.

However, Kuroko had been certain she could beat its leader in a one-on-one battle. After all, though he was considerably more physically powerful and a better trained combatant than she was, he was only a level zero. Her speed, more refined fighting style, and ability to teleport would easily bring her victory.

As it turned out, however, she had underestimated her opponent, placing far too much confidence in the advantage that her ability would give to her. But more importantly, he had not underestimated her. People assuming that Kuroko was weak was what allowed Kuroko the element of surprise that let her to end most fights within five seconds. The fight was far closer than the others had been, and, while there were injuries on both sides, in the end Kuroko had lost.

She had, however, earned Komaba's grudging respect, and in turn he had earned hers. More importantly he had taught her the valuable lesson to never underestimate anyone just because her ability was more powerful than theirs. With that lesson she was sure she could defeat him in a rematch.

Kuroko was a quick learner after all, and a single fight with someone was usually enough to teach her how to defeat them if she ever fought them again. Though she had not fought with any of those three again she was certain she could defeat them in a rematch. She was certain that nobody in the city could defeat her more than once.

It was an arrogant theory that was surely false, but up to now she had only received one piece of evidence to that falsehood. Out of everyone she had lost against a first time, only one had ever beaten her in the rematch as well. And that person was...

"Misaka Mikoto," Kuroko declared as she appeared on the ground. She stared at messy chestnut hair that covered the back of the girl's head as the electro master stood facing away from her.

* * *

Kuroko had met Misaka-san a couple of months ago after saving the girl from a group of delinquents who had cornered the electro master in an alley. Upon seeing this, Kuroko had immediately teleported behind the three and knocked them out before they even realized she was there.

She had turned to the girl and saw that she was wearing the uniform of Tokiwadai, the school that Kuroko had just recently been accepted into. The school was full of ojou-samas with more money than sense and the sort of arrogance that would cause them to not feel any fear about walking through strange alleys late in the evening.

It took all of Kuroko's self control not to roll her eyes as she said, "You should probably get going back to the dorms. These alleys are dangerous at this time of day and next time you might not be so lucky as to have someone like me to rescue you."

Normally this would be the point where the person who had just been rescued would nod and hurry off, eternally grateful to the mysterious individual who had saved them. Thus it was quite jarring to hear the girl scoff.

"You think I needed you to rescue me?" the girl asked derisively.

"No, I'm sure your daddy's a very important person in politics and he would never let anything bad happen to you," Kuroko mocked as she rolled her eyes. These rich girls were all the same, relying on their family and wealth to pave the way to a good life rather than building it with their own two hands.

It made Kuroko sick to think she had once been just like them.

The girl's eyebrow twitched and a humorless smile tore across her face. Kuroko could feel a dangerous aura settling in around her, weighing her down.

But Kuroko didn't particularly care. If this girl tried to hurt her she could always avoid the blow with teleportation and give her a good smack upside the head in retaliation.

"You're really starting to get on my nerves. I don't need you or anyone else to defend me."

Now it was Kuroko's turn to scoff, "I've heard people stronger than you say that and I've seen as they come crawling to me to help them when they run against something they can't handle."

"Stronger than me?" The girl glared at Kuroko. "You clearly don't know who I am do you?"

"An arrogant brat." Kuroko helpfully supplied.

The only warning was a sudden flash before Kuroko's skin was singed by heat and numbed by shock. She backpedaled a couple steps, feeling oddly faint and itchy all over. She felt her heart racing in her chest. Her legs felt like jelly and were in danger of buckling out from under her any second.

"Hmph, you're durable I give you that, most people take one bolt and they're down for the count. I warn you though, nobody can take two," the girl said, her voice holding a dangerous edge to it as sparks of electricity danced among her fringe and over her skin.

"I'm not gonna go down that easily," Kuroko growled as she returned the electro master's glare and lunged at her.

Kuroko could see the surprise etched across Misaka's face when the second lightning bolt had also failed to put her down. Though stunning her and halting her, charge the electro master had needed to fire a third bolt which finally managed to knock her out. To Kuroko's eternal shame those next two lightning bolts put her down in less than ten seconds. Never had she been so easily and quickly beaten, without even landing a scratch on her opponent.

* * *

Like with Sogiita, she blamed her loss on her opponent's Level 5 status, a status she found out about during the school entrance ceremony a week later. But unlike Sogiita there was nothing holding her back from swearing revenge on her. It was a vow of revenge Kuroko tried to exact with extreme regularity.

In fact it happened with such regularity that Misaka didn't even turn around when she heard her name being called. Instead she looked at the person manning the crepe stall and said, "Make that two actually," before grabbing another coin out of her purse and sliding it across the counter.

The person nodded and went to prepare the confectioneries. "You're late..." Misaka said, still not turning around to face Kuroko.

Kuroko tapped her foot anxiously on the ground. The soft leather of her school issued loafer hardly made a sound as it impacted the cobblestone beneath. She was currently standing in a large open area with scattered trees and vegetation wedged between spiralling cobblestone pathways in what many would probably consider an aesthetically pleasing manner.

There were a few benches scattered around the area along with two vending machines for drinks and the lone crepe stand in the center.

It was a good place to go to relax if one could ignore the somewhat heavy traffic that the road was almost always full of.

"Well excuse me for disrupting your busy schedule." Kuroko faux-apologized, rolling her eyes. "But I do have more important things to deal with."

Misaka almost laughed at this, but managed to control it. Instead she simply scoffed quietly, whispering under her breath, "And yet you come and do this every day."

"Here you go," the crepe seller said with a smile and a bow as she handed the two strawberry crepes to Misaka.

"Thank you," Misaka replied with a nod as she took one in each hand, holding one back towards Kuroko. "Hungry?" she asked the teleporter. "We can have our rematch after we eat."

Kuroko was about to decline sharply when her stomach growled. She blushed slightly and stepped forward, taking the proffered treat. "Thank you," she responded politely, before taking a bite.

She heard Misaka chuckle before taking a bite of her own crepe.

"What's are you laughing at?" Kuroko growled and glared at Misaka. Then she felt her heart skipping as she saw the sunlight framing the electro master's delicate features. A gentle gust of wind tussled her hair. Kuroko felt her slight blush grow several shades darker as she forced herself to tear her gaze away from Misaka and glare down at her own crepe instead, as if it had been the one laughing.

There was a pause as Misaka finished chewing and swallowing. "The way you change so suddenly from your delinquent speech to your high class speech. It's..." Misaka began but stopped.

There was a short silence before Kuroko heard Misaka taking a step towards her. The teleporter glanced up just in time to feel the electro master's hand cupping her left cheek.

Kuroko could practically feel steam coming out of her ears as her blush turned almost luminous in its intensity. Despite the lack of pain she was positive Misaka had zapped her again with one of her lightning bolts.

Kuroko's skin was on fire, she felt faint, her heart was racing, her legs felt like jelly. _'It's been getting more powerful,'_ she noted. Despite only being struck by a single lightning bolt -for surely it was a lightning bolt and not this simple, gentle touch- she already felt like fainting.

She felt Misaka's thumb slowly sliding across her cheek, leaving fiery hotness in its wake.

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone as Misaka withdrew her hand. Kuroko felt oddly numb as it left, as if that powerful lightning bolt had drained her of all life.

* * *

Yet despite the awful effect it had, she couldn't help looking at the hand and wishing it was back on her skin. Then she glanced at the thumb and saw that it was stained red with blood.

Kuroko recoiled slightly. She hadn't felt Misaka cut her at all, and with what blade? How could she have let her guard down so completely?

Misaka sighed and said, "I suppose you got that from your _important things_?"

Suddenly, Kuroko remembered. Back in the construction yard she had been cut. The wound had completely slipped her mind, but now she felt the dull aching of the still fresh cut, and the warm dampness of the blood as it oozed down her cheek.

"That's..." Kuroko began, though she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. Should she explain how she got it? No, that wouldn't work. Should she lie? No, she didn't want to do that, and even if she did, what would she say? "It's nothing important," she finally settled on.

Misaka sighed again and handed Kuroko her own crepe. "Wait here," she ordered before walking off.

"Wait, are you running away? We haven't had our rematch yet." Kuroko protested weakly, not wanting her time with Misaka to be over just yet. Or rather, not wanting to let her go without

another rematch. Yeah that was it!

"Yeah yeah," Misaka waved dismissively, "don't worry about that, I'll be right back. I promise," she said as she turned the corner.

Kuroko stood there fuming. "Just leaving me here to hold her crepe like a... like a..." her anger suddenly dissipated as she glanced at the crepe she held in her hand.

Misaka's crepe.

She stared at it like it would jump out at her and bite her head off. Then, her gaze softened as she peered at the bite that had been taken out of it.

_'Her lips have been here...'_ Kuroko found herself thinking before she could catch herself. Then she found her tongue tracing the bite mark, tasting the cream. She wondered why it was so much sweeter than her own crepe had been.

Suddenly she caught herself and pushed the crepe away from herself so fast someone might think it actually had jumped out at her and bit her head off. Again she felt her heart racing.

_'The power of a Level 5 is truly frightening,'_ Kuroko thought as she breathed deeply, _'striking me with this invisible lightning without being anywhere nearby.'_

"Hey, Kuroko," she heard Misaka call out.

"For the last time don't speak to me so familiarly," Kuroko screeched, so hot and bothered and confused with it all that she lashed out at the first person she saw, who was only by coincidence the source of her irritation.

"Alright, Shirai-san, sheesh. Anyway, come over here." Misaka huffed as she stood near a bench, holding a bag in her left hand as she gestured Kuroko over with her right.

Kuroko teleported over to the bench. She did not do so because she wanted to get close to Misaka as soon as possible, it was simply because she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible... right?

"Here's your crepe back," she said, holding it at an arms length as if it were the deadliest poison imaginable.

"Hold onto it for a second longer," Misaka said as she got her Gekota handkerchief out of her pocket. Kuroko frowned at the childish pattern on the fabric, but for some reason she couldn't comment on it past the lump that had formed in her throat at the older girl's close proximity.

Misaka leaned over and wiped the blood off of Kuroko's cheek before folding the handkerchief to make sure it wouldn't stain her skirt as she put it back into her pocket. "This might hurt a little," she said as she pulled a bottle out of the bag and poured a little of the liquid therein into a cotton swab.

Then she dabbed the swab at the wound. There was a slight stinging but Kuroko found herself too lost in the electro master's eyes to notice.

"Wow, you didn't even flinch," Misaka said, sounding impressed as she screwed the lid back onto the bottle and put it back in the bag. "Back when I was a kid, I used to try and hide my scraped knees because the antiseptic hurt so much. But my mom would always find out and put it on anyway. I would always cry but then she would put on a fun little band-aid." Misaka smiled in reminiscence as she held up a green band-aid with Gekota on it before plastering it onto Kuroko's cheek. "Then she'd kiss it better and tell me what a brave girl I was." The electromaster said before lifting her index finger to her mouth and kissing the space between the second and third knuckle and pressing it gently to the band-aid.

Kuroko was completely stunned as Misaka stood up and took her crepe out of Kuroko's hand, taking another bite out of it as she turned around. After a few seconds of chewing she swallowed and said, "It's late... what do you say we reschedule this rematch for tomorrow or something?" She smiled back at Kuroko, waving at her before turning and walking off.

Kuroko watched her go, following her with her eyes as she got farther and farther away before turning around a corner and disappearing from sight altogether.

Suddenly Kuroko was looking up at the sky. She wondered what happened, then realized she had fallen off the bench. Her heart was still pounding faster than a racehorse and she found she had no strength at all in her limbs.

"Such powerful lightning," she said as she gazed into the vast expanse of blue that stretched into infinity above her.

* * *

Dedications: I'd like to dedicate this chapter, this fic actually, to four people. Cun, ReaperLuca, GreatSnapper, and XXBakaAkki for their input and help, with a special mention to Cun for inspiring the idea and ReaperLuca for insisting I turn it into a story.

* * *

Author's Note (**Message to long-term fans of my works below**): This story is like many other "what if" stories in that it all started with a simple question. It's a question I've asked a few other times without going too far into. How would things be different if Kuroko was on the other side of the law?

Kuroko's sense of justice is far too strong for me to imagine her as a criminal without having it be a whole other character all together, so I went with the vigilante route like in my trilogy. However this time she has backup. The thought process I went through to come up with this idea is confusing and I've mostly forgotten it, but it ended up with this idea in my head of Kuroko as a dreaded Sukeban of a gang. from there a conversation or two with another author made me decide to write it down. I hope you enjoyed it.

I decided to change my writing style a little for this story as well, focusing a little more than usual on visual descriptions and things like that. I also made sure all these chapters were far more thoroughly beta'ed than most of my other works. I hope these alteration worked for you guys, be sure to tell me if you think it did.

* * *

Message to Long-term Fans (WARNING! LONG!): First of all, just to assure you, none of my other works have been abandoned. I intend to handle all three of them at once.

As you guys probably know I am usually someone who updates their stories pretty regularly, so I understand it's a bit jarring that I haven't updated my Final Judgement trilogy since a couple of months into this year. To be honest I've tried hard to write things for that, but things like life and stress prevented me from working on it.

That's when I came out with a new story. It a sequel to one of my personal favorite works of mine -Addiction- called Side Effects. If you haven't read or heard of this it's pointless to search, as many of you probably saw I took it down after writing 3 chapters.

I have explained this to those who have asked, but to those who haven't here's what happened. I was unhappy with the quality of my work and the little feedback I received from my fans wasn't enough to counterbalance a few discussions with people who managed to convince me that it could be a lot better. So I took it down in order to rewrite it and post it in a better state while ensuring that a whole bunch of people wouldn't read the poor quality work in the meantime.

The people who I previously explained this to might think it a bit odd to see me posting another story. I know if I was following a big story like my trilogy and the author started another story I would think that the big work had been abandoned. However I will not abandon my trilogy until it is done.

That isn't to say updates won't be slower. In addition to the fact that I am working on a couple other stories I have decided that my trilogy needs a beta from now on. Working just by myself I could, working tirelessly, get an 8000 word chapter out every week or so, but the quality isn't as good as when it's read over by others. I've been told many times that it's quality that matters so I'll assume that that's still true and start having my chapters read by someone before posting them.

However since my Betas are not the same for each story what I hope to do is write several chapters at once (like in this where I wrote four chapters within 2 weeks) for each story, then have them beta'ed as I post some of the chapters from a story which has already been beta'ed, meaning I'll hopefully be able to post something at least once a week. I hope that's ok for you guys and makes up for my long hiatus.


	2. Uiharu

Kuroko wasn't sure how long she spent looking up at the sky, but she knew it had been too long when she saw the blue expanse fading into red as vibrant oranges and purples tinged the once pure white clouds. She checked her phone and saw that it was getting quite late. If she didn't leave soon, she'd miss curfew.

She sat up; the teleporter's mind was still swirling, but her body had recovered from Misaka's invisible lightning, leaving her with enough strength in her limbs to stand. She glanced at her left hand and saw the crepe she still held in it. It had been resting on the ground and ants had begun to swarm over the cream. She teleported it into the nearest trash can and shook her hand to dislodge the ants that crawled over her skin.

Her eyes fell onto the bench she had been sitting on and saw the white plastic of the convenience store bag which still rested next to the spot that Misaka had been sitting. The bottle of antiseptic and the box of Gekota band-aids were still inside.

It was no surprise Misaka had left it behind. The older girl was an odd combination of wasteful and miserly that could only be found in the entitled upper class. She would stall-read manga because she didn't want to buy it, then turn around and buy ten boxes of cereal just to rifle through them for a prize before throwing the uneaten boxes away.

Kuroko sighed as she grabbed the bag. Waste not want not and all. Then she turned to leave.

As she did an odd thought went through her head.

'_Misaka-san held this... If kissing something that someone else has kissed is an indirect kiss... does this mean we're indirectly holding hands?'_

The thought caused Kuroko's face to go as red as the sunset-tinted sky and she was at once hit with the urge to drop the bag and the urge grip it tighter. It seemed that the second impulse was stronger and her hands curled so tight around the plastic handles of the bag that her knuckles turned white.

She tried to flush her mind but that just made the thoughts stronger. She was even too distracted to teleport.

As it turned out, this was not a good thing. Being too distracted to teleport meant that she needed to run for most of the trip risking her punctuality for the impending curfew, until fatigue from the exertion won out over the thoughts of that damned electromaster and freed her mind up enough to allow her to teleport the rest of the way.

Even though she had teleported, she made it with only a couple minutes to spare. She opened the door of the exterior dormitories and entered the lobby.

The dormitories were, like many things associated with Tokiwadai and the Gardens of Education, western style. The main lobby featured marble flagstones with square tessellations. Its walls were painted white with marble panels lining the bottom. The walls were covered with simple and tasteful paintings, and the entrances to hallways used Roman arches.

Continuing with the simple, yet undeniably pretentious, design, the stairs were wooden with simple balusters leading up to the upper floors of the dorm.

It gave the place a pleasant enough atmosphere that Kuroko could feel herself relax. She heard the door swinging shut behind her as she stepped inside with a few exhausted gasps of cool air to sate her burning lungs.

Any feelings of relief were short lived as she heard a voice speaking to her. The words seemed to poison the air, lending the pleasant lobby an atmosphere similar to the feeling of resting one's neck on the block underneath a guillotine, staring into the basket that you knew would soon contain your head.

"Cutting it close, aren't we, Shirai?"

A chill ran down Kuroko's spine and she tensed up at these words. She could practically feel the fear pricking at her skin but it did not grip her mind in the same manner that it did the other inhabitants of the dorm when they heard those words

Despite the terror that ran rampant through her veins, Kuroko controlled herself enough to look calmly at the woman who was the source of this aura of fear and menace. She briefly gazed into her eyes then bowed respectfully, "I apologize Dorm Mistress. I lost track of time."

* * *

The Dorm Mistress frowned. She was a natural born disciplinarian with the ability to smell misbehavior from miles away and a presence that could make even the Railgun, a person who could take on an army by herself, terrified of disobedience.

Shirai Kuroko reeked so strongly of delinquency that it almost made the Dorm Mistress gag, and she seemed to be one of the few people who was mostly immune to the Dorm Mistress's terrifying aura.

And yet, the teleporting delinquent never broke a single rule. She was always there by curfew, she never used her ability inside the dorms, and she never made a peep after lights out. She always spoke to the Dorm Mistress respectfully and politely.

Really, there was nothing that the girl did within the Dorm Mistress's jurisdiction that could in any way be construed as bad or wrong, leaving the Dorm Mistress with the same sort of unease that one felt around bombs that were supposed to have gone off, but hadn't.

It was the same problem that Tokiwadai had. Having a delinquent, especially a Sukeban, enrolled was a blemish on their school's reputation. However, Kuroko's parents had made a big enough donation to their school that they could not expel her without reason. They watched her like a hawk, ready to use the smallest violation of rules to kick her out, but she never gave them the chance.

The Dorm Mistress glanced at the bag that the teleporter gripped in her right hand. "What's in the bag?"

Tokiwadai strictly controlled the things that their students owned. It was stricter than a prison, with things like makeup and cosmetics banned in case they had some sort of effect on the user's health and thus their progress in the ESPer program. There was, of course, a thriving "black market" of these goods which were smuggled in, sometimes by the maids who worked at the dorms, but more often just slipped deep into the schoolbags of the girls themselves.

Unlike a prison warden,the Dorm Mistress couldn't just search their bags whenever she felt like it because it might contain some contraband and most of the girls were smart enough to hide anything that was against the rules whenever she did a room inspection.

With her teleportation ability, Shirai could easily dominate the black market, getting in almost anything at anytime to anyone without the Dorm Mistress knowing about it. At first the Dorm Mistress had suspected her of doing just that, but time, observation, and a few particularly thorough room inspections had mostly assuaged these suspicions. But perhaps she had gotten sloppy today and had, in her rush to make curfew, walked through the front door unknowingly carrying some contraband.

For a second there was a look of confusion and surprise that supported the theory that Kuroko wasn't aware that she had been carrying the bag, meaning perhaps she hadn't intended to.

However the theory fell apart as she held it out towards the Dorm Mistress and tapped her left cheek, which was plastered with a band-aid. "A bottle of antiseptic and a box of band-aids," she explained.

As ever she was one of the most cooperative of the girls, allowing the Dorm Mistress to search her stuff without any issue or protest. It was the kind of cooperation that was born out of a confidence that she had nothing to hide. That sort of confidence from a delinquent was always worrying, because all it usually meant was that they had hidden their contraband particularly well rather than them genuinely not having anything to hide.

* * *

The Dorm Mistress stepped forward, taking the bag in her left hand as her right cupped the teleporter's cheek, inspecting the injury. "How did you get this?" she asked. Kuroko noted that the touch failed to produce the same feeling that it had when Misaka had done the exact same thing.

The thumb that slid along her cheek was cold and did not light the same fire under her skin that Misaka's touch had brought. The teleporter's heart beat was elevated, but only from fear and her recent exercise, not that sudden unexplainable surge she felt whenever she saw Misaka that made her chest feel so tight.

'_Well, of course. the Dorm Mistress isn't an electro master... that's proof that it's the lightning' _Kuroko rationalised internally. Out loud she cleared her throat and explained, "An ill-advised jaunt through a construction yard and a severe underestimation of how sharp those pieces of metal can be." She was not truly lying with her words. She was not telling the whole truth to be sure, but neither was she lying.

"Are you ok? Do you want me to check it out in the infirmary?" The Dorm Mistress offered, and Kuroko could see the concern flashing in her eyes. This was the biggest reason that Kuroko was not completely afraid of her.

The teleporter knew that, just like herself, the intimidation factor was a mask she put on designed to discourage others from opposing her authority. The Dorm Mistress actually cared quite deeply about all the girls who lived in the dorms, even the delinquents.

"No thank you. I'm fine," Kuroko assured her.

After a few more seconds of quiet examination the older woman stepped back and looked into the bag. She took out the bottle and examined it for a second, opening the lid and sniffing it to ensure its contents matched the label.

Then she took out the box. She seemed slightly surprised at the childish design that the band-aids were printed with, as she had been when she saw the head of that frog mascot that some of the girls were interested in on the band-aid on her cheek.

Kuroko was someone who was very concerned with appearances and looking mature, as a single peek at her underwear drawer could tell you. It was enough to make the Dorm Mistress suspicious and she opened the box to ensure that there were just band-aids inside of it. Once she had verified that that was all the box contained, handed it back to Kuroko

"I'll need to confiscate the antiseptic, but you can have these back." Though the antiseptic was on the list of banned items, it was hardly worth a demerit or even a scolding.

"Sure," Kuroko said, accepting the box with a nod, "just don't throw it away... someone can still use it."

Daily jaunts in the worst parts of the city had made Kuroko more appreciative than most of her peers of what she had and what others lacked. She knew that she could break every bone in her body and, because of Academy City's medical technology and the fact that her parents were rich enough to afford the best of it, she would be walking again in a week. Some people in her gang would be out for a month if they dislocated a single joint, unable to afford even basic treatment.

* * *

Kuroko lived on the first floor with most of the other first years who lived in the exterior dorms, so she took the hallway immediately to the right. The white walls of the hallway glowed a warm yellow, reflecting the incandescent lighting fixtures that hung from the wooden ceiling. She glanced at the numbered doors, stopping in front of the one to the right at the end of the hall.

112, the numbers read.

She stepped forward, turning the knob and entering the room.

As she stepped inside she could hear the sound of water pounding against tile and feel the heaviness of humid air that could only mean that her roommate was taking one of her half hour long showers.

Kuroko sighed. Even with the dorm's superb water heater her roommate always inexplicably managed to use up all the hot water whenever she took a shower.

Out of nowhere an amazingly vivid image of Misaka taking a shower wormed its way inside Kuroko's head. Hands running through chestnut hair which stuck alluringly to her neck, rivulets of water dripping down a toned back which shifted and rippled with every motion, bubbles of soap annoyingly obscuring certain areas that Kuroko would never admit to wanting to see.

Again, Kuroko was amazed at Misaka's abilities. She knew that the electromaster lived in room 208 of this very dorm, but that was on another floor in another wing of the dorms. To strike her with this invisible lightning from all the way over there...

As she felt the flames of Misaka's lightning engulf her skin at this irritatingly persistent thought, she decided that a cold shower wouldn't be that bad and kicked off her shoes before slumping down onto her bed.

Today had been so confusing. Her thoughts and feelings were in such a jumble she could hardly tell left from right. She needed someone to talk to, a friend who she could confide in.

Luckily she knew just the person.

* * *

She took out her phone and punched in the familiar number before pressing it to her ear.

"Moshi moshi." The person on the other end of the line said, their voice groggy and tired.

"Moshi moshi, Uiharu. Did I wake you?" Kuroko asked. Uiharu kept unpredictable hours. Sometimes she would be in bed by eight o' clock, other times she wouldn't doze off until two in the morning.

"Oh, Shirai-san... no you didn't wake me. I was just about to head to bed though, so you actually caught me just in time," Uiharu's voice immediately perked up when she heard Kuroko. "Did you need something?" Her chipper voice instantly turned sombre as she asked, "Did something happen?"

"No need to worry, nothing happened. I just called to talk with you about our meeting tomorrow," Kuroko assured her. Once a week on Sundays, Kuroko would set aside some time to meet up and chat with Uiharu.

Even with lights out being an hour away she knew they couldn't talk about everything she wanted to right now, and it wasn't really the sort of thing she could say over the phone anyway. She would have to wait for their meeting the next day.

"You forgot the place? We decided to meet up at that cake shop near the park. They have this new flavor that I wanted to try out." Uiharu reminded her, knowing how easily the teleporter forgot things like that.

"No that's not it," Kuroko said and went silent for a second. To be honest she had sort of forgotten, but telling Uiharu would just open her up to a round of teasing.

"Oh? Can you not make it?" The disappointment in the flower-headed girl's voice was palpable as she took the silence as hesitation rather than embarrassment.

"Wha- Uiharu... you know I'd never cancel on you. You're my best friend. I would walk across an ocean of glass to get to our meetings," She said sincerely. "I was just calling to ask if we can meet up a bit earlier."

"Oh? Do you need to talk about something? Is it "that person" again?" Uiharu asked, knowing that was the primary source of the teleporter's worries these day. Or at least, the source of most of the worries that Kuroko felt comfortable telling Uiharu about.

"It has nothing to do with that person," Kuroko snapped in a manner that told Uiharu that she had guessed exactly right.

"Sure," There was a pause as Uiharu yawned, "come around to my place tomorrow and we'll go to the cake shop together."

"Ok... thanks. I'll let you get to sleep now." Kuroko could hear the exhaustion in Uiharu's voice and knew that if she kept her up much longer she'd probably fall asleep on the floor.

"Goodnight, Uiharu."

"Goodnight, Shirai-san," she yawned again before hanging up.

* * *

Kuroko put her phone away and smiled up at the ceiling. Even such a short and simple talk with her best friend usually left her feeling better.

She had first met the flower-headed girl almost a year ago in the Judgment training school, back when Kuroko was still a member of Judgment. When Kuroko had seen this girl who was so physically unfit that she was out of breath after a single lap, she had been a bit disdainful.

Judgment was, in Kuroko's mind, an important organization that shouldn't have weak links like this girl clogging up the works. However, she soon grew to admire the girl's perseverance as she continued to run despite how tired she was.

When the girl neared collapse Kuroko had gone over to her and offered her a drink and a bit of encouragement. They left that day as acquaintances and possible future colleagues, but nothing more.

It wasn't until after their second meeting that they became more. Their second meeting was in a bank and...

Images flashed across Kuroko's mind as she sat bolt upright and shook her head to try and clear her thoughts. "I think I need that shower now" she decided as she stood up, went over to the dresser to get the nightgown she was going to wear that night, and walked over to the bathroom door. She knocked on it gently, "Are you going to be done anytime soon?"

Despite her neutral tone she could hear the panic with which her roommate responded, immediately shutting the shower off, and then throwing open the bathroom door so fast that she tripped over the threshold.

Kuroko caught her deftly in her left arm, feeling the dripping wet body soaking into the athletic tape covering it. The girl looked up at her, the towel and her hair in disarray from the speed of her departure. She eeped as she saw Kuroko so close and jumped away as if she had been bitten.

"A-All yours now," she said fearfully, a deep blush coloring her cheeks as the water falling from her body seeped into the sheets below her and her towel fell slightly, revealing a little more than Kuroko cared to see.

Kuroko simply nodded and went into the bathroom, knowing that anything she said would make it worse. Her classmates' reaction to her was almost the exact opposite of most peoples.

When most people saw her, with her long hair, slim body, and uniform of a high class school they could not help but see an oujo-sama and nothing else. But the people that went to their school could only see "delinquent" when they looked at her.

Even though she didn't wear her neckerchief or belt of bandanas in either the school or the dorms the aura around her screamed ne'er-do-well loudly enough for people to hear it.

The novelty of having a Sukeban enrolled in such a high class school had fueled countless rumors. All those rumors made her reputation grow until she was made out to be as mean and sinister as a cartoon villain in most of her peer's eyes, making almost everyone afraid of her.

Of course, that fear was tempered by interest and more than a hint of excitement. Though her roommate acted like that around her she knew that the girl bragged about being her roommate almost daily and, judging by the number of books and manga about delinquents she had caught the other girl reading, was far more pleased about the arrangement than she let on.

* * *

Kuroko went into the bathroom. Immediately she felt as water from the puddles that her roommate had spilled onto the floor soak into the fabric of her socks. Kuroko took them off to rid herself of the unpleasant sensation before depositing the socks into her hamper.

Then she stripped off the rest of her uniform and put it in the hamper as well, only just remembering to take the box of band-aids from her pocket and put them under the sink with the others. She detached the black bands of nails from her thighs, as well as the two nails she kept concealed under the bandages wrapped around each of her forearms, and put them aside.

She then turned and looked at herself in the bathroom's mirror, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She had long since stopped putting it up in pigtails, both because they were a danger in a fight, too easily grabbed and pulled, and because they were far too childish for a Sukeban to have.

Long hair also posed a danger in a fight for much the same reason as pigtails. She had considered having it cut, but decided against it when she had scanned through every one of the hairdos in the salon's computer, and couldn't find a single short-haired one that she liked. Practicality was her duty as a combatant, but style was her duty as a lady and she was not ready to give it up.

After glancing at her hair her gaze moved down her body, thoroughly examining every inch of skin. Kuroko knew that going to Uiharu's house would inevitably lead to the level one forcing her to undress and performing a similar examination.

The flower-headed girl worried a lot about Kuroko's health. She knew how often Kuroko got hurt and how good the teleporter was at concealing these injuries from her and everyone else. Kuroko didn't want Uiharu to worry after all. Uiharu knew this, and that fact made the level one worry all the more.

A couple hours into one of their Sunday meetings a few months ago, Kuroko had collapsed from the pain of two broken ribs which she had concealed from the Level 1 up until that point.

From then on Uiharu made sure to check her every week, tending the smaller wounds and ensuring Kuroko got the proper attention for the larger ones. It also made Kuroko take better care of herself to ensure Uiharu was worried as little as possible during these checkups.

Kuroko was pleased to note that she hadn't sustained many injuries this week. She had mostly been involved in small skirmishes and information gathering with the Aqua Rectangles, and her one big fight of the week with them had left her with a single bruise on her shoulder and the small cut on her cheek.

* * *

When her self-inspection was over she unwrapped the tape from her shins and knees, tossing it to the side before glancing down at her arms. She sighed and began unwrapping the right arm. She felt the warm, humid air brushing the skin underneath as the athletic tape was pulled away, revealing her elbows, then her forearms, finally her hands.

The teleporter took a deep breath as the tape fell away to the floor. Without looking at it she curled her right hand into a fist, then uncurled it again, repeating the process a few times while preparing for the sight she knew she could never truly be prepared to see again. After steeling herself, she finally glanced at her palm.

Kuroko's pupils dilated in terror as she saw it. She closed her hand into a fist again but it had already started. She could feel her heart thundering in her chest as icy fear greater than ten Dorm Mistresses spread through her chest. She turned to the sink, yanking hard at the tap to turn on the flow of hot water and holding her fist under it until she stopped hyperventilating.

Kuroko took another deep breath before looking at the fist, now drenched in the faucet's running water and noticing she had turned it on hot again in her rush. It was probably a good thing that her roommate had used up most of the hot water, or else her hand would probably have been scalded again.

There was nothing wrong. She knew that it was all in her head and she could make it go away at any time. But no matter how many times she told herself that, she could never really bring herself to believe it. It had been almost a year now, but Kuroko knew from experience she'd never get that image out of her mind. She could never forget what happened in the bank that day she had met Uiharu for the second time.

* * *

There had been a robbery. She had taken out one of the criminals but she had not known that there was a second person. That second person had taken Uiharu hostage.

The security robots had attempted to intervene and Kuroko had tried using them as a shield to get to him and free Uiharu, but all that had done was get Konori hurt when she had thrown herself in front of Kuroko as the man used something to blow up the security robot.

Everything had gone so wrong; Konori was hurt and unconscious, Kuroko was injured, and Uiharu was being held at knife point. Kuroko knew her teleportation wasn't good enough to get her out of there, but she knew that if she could just reach Uiharu she could at least save the other girl.

That's when things went from bad to worse. She wasn't sure exactly what happened, whether it had been Uiharu's struggling or a slip up on the part of the robber... all she knew was that the blade that was being held up to the flower-headed girl's neck cut her flesh and nicked an artery.

Kuroko could see as the blood spurted out from the wound and watched as the girl fell limply to the floor.

That sight had made something inside Kuroko snap. For the first time ever she teleported herself, appearing an inch in front of the person and punching him as hard as she could in the face.

They had gone down, but she just kept on punching him until her knuckles were dyed red with his blood. Then she had crawled over to Uiharu, pressing her hands hard against the wound in an effort to keep the girl's blood inside her and begging Uiharu to survive. The sight of the flower-headed girl's blood staining her clothes and soaking her hands was not an easy one to forget.

Anti Skill arrived with an ambulance a couple minutes later and Uiharu had been rushed to the hospital.

Once Kuroko had recovered from the shock, she explained what happened to the officials who asked her, and she, in turn, asked them what sort of punishment the person who had hurt Uiharu would receive. At that moment Kuroko was convinced that even the death penalty would be too good for him.

So imagine her horror when he was merely sentenced to a short stint in a juvenile rehabilitation facility and five-hundred hours community service. In response to her own actions, Kuroko was placed under probation from Judgment work for using "excessive force".

It was at that moment that Kuroko gave up on Judgment.

It was at that moment, as she was punished for doing nothing more than hurting the scum who had injured Konori and put Uiharu in the hospital, that Kuroko figured out that Judgment was not the beacon of justice she had once thought it was.

It was at that moment that Kuroko decided that any justice she wanted to see done would have to be done with her own two hands, and couldn't be done at all while she was hindered by the sort of stupid rules that meant she was punished while he walked free.

She tore off her armband, wrapped it around her neck, and teleported out of the Judgment offices, never to return. She wasn't Judgment anymore... she was Verdict... and her verdict was guilty.

* * *

Every day after that she would walk the streets looking for the scum of the city, the vile delinquents that were that robber's ilk, and giving them a lesson in justice that could only be taught with fists and pain.

She would fight until she was ragged and bloody, she would fight until her body was so covered in bruises that it was hard to tell if purple was her natural skin color or not, and most importantly she would fight until the delinquents she was hunting were all lying unconscious at her feet.

It was only once she could fight no more that she allowed herself to rest. She would go to Uiharu's room of the hospital and talk with her until she fell unconscious, at which point the frog faced doctor who tended Uiharu would bring Kuroko to another room to patch her up as best he could, only for her to teleport away the next morning after she had woken up.

Bonded by this trauma, Kuroko and Uiharu had quickly became best friends. For the next two months Kuroko would visit her every day, even after Uiharu had been released from the hospital Kuroko would go to Uiharu's room each night rather than her own.

These daily visits were probably the only thing that fueled Kuroko during her desperate crusade, those precious few hours when Kuroko could stop being Verdict and be a regular girl at a regular slumber party with her best friend.

Though it was fair to say that Uiharu hardly approved of Kuroko's activities. Those first two months were the hardest of all, when Kuroko was nothing more than a vigilante, beating criminals to a pulp and getting beaten to a pulp in turn.

Seeing her injured so badly every day broke Uiharu's heart, and when Uiharu thought about how it was mostly her own fault, she felt so guilty.

In a sense, she was glad when Kuroko became a Sukeban rather than a bloodthirsty vigilante. At least when she had a gang there were people to look after her. After that her injuries stopped being so major. She no longer fought until she was broken and bloodied.

And more importantly she stopped allowing this ridiculous crusade, this relentless hunting of delinquents, this misguided search for justice consume her life.

Kuroko began studying again for her entrance exams, an activity she had stopped during her vigilante days, and began to hang out with other people in a capacity beyond beating them senseless. Her visits grew less frequent, going from daily, to every other day, to every week, but Uiharu was actually glad about that, since it meant Kuroko was moving past the trauma.

Of course, as Uiharu's concern and worry for Kuroko shrunk a bit other emotions began to leak in through the gaps. One of the most prominent of these emotions was a sense of disappointment in the other girl.

Unlike Kuroko, Uiharu kept faith in Judgment, becoming a full member of Kuroko's old branch soon after she was released from the hospital. Uiharu tried desperately to convince Kuroko to quit being a delinquent and to join Judgment again, feeling she had given up too easily and only formed Verdict because it was the easy way out.

But whenever Uiharu brought up quitting Verdict, Kuroko would lean over, use her finger to gently trace the almost imperceptible scar from the cut that the knife had carved into her neck, and whisper two words so quietly that it had taken several listens for Uiharu to catch the full message.

"I can't." She would whisper and gaze into Uiharu's eyes with such determination that the flower headed girl realized that trying to convince her would be an exercise in futility.

But even though she knew she couldn't quit Verdict and join Judgment, Kuroko did wonder what life would be like if she had managed to reach Uiharu that day and teleported her out of the bank.

She'd still probably be in Judgment along with Uiharu. She wondered how their relationship would be different, and she wondered how she would be different. She had learned so much as a delinquent, and as ironic as it was, she believed it had made her a better person.

* * *

Images of what could have been fluttered past her mind's eye as she showered, distracting her from her other worries until she finished up her shower and began toweling off.

As she did she felt the band-aid, its adhesive weakened by the water, slip off of her and fall to the ground. She looked at it and thoughts of the person who had given it to her overwrote any other thoughts in her head.

She stooped down to pick it up and threw it violently into the trash, only for it to stick to her finger. She flailed her hand awkwardly for a second in an attempt to dislodge it before peeling it off carefully and dropping it into the trash.

Then she walked over to the cupboard under the sink and reached into it for normal band-aids that weren't bright green with a frog's head on it. But her hand stopped before she reached it.

Misaka liked that frog character. She had called the band-aid cute. She had gone and bought those band-aids for Kuroko. They were a gift- a gift from the electromaster especially for Kuroko. More than that they were a symbol that Misaka cared about her.

Kuroko picked up the box of Gekota band-aids, taking one out and plastering it over the cut in the same place the other one had been. Then she put the athletic tape back on her arms and legs and slipped on the nightgown she had chosen.

After glancing in the mirror one last time she exited the bathroom, flopping down on her bed and staring up at the ceiling before falling into a fitful sleep.

* * *

It was quite early the next morning when Kuroko knocked on the door to Uiharu's apartment.

There was a thump from inside that Kuroko could recognize as the sound of her somewhat clumsy friend falling out of bed. Kuroko teleported inside before the inevitable second thump of Uiharu bumping her head on the table that was in the middle of the room.

Kuroko put her hand between Uiharu's head and the table milliseconds before the two collided. Kuroko nudged the table away using her foot as Uiharu sat up and looked at her.

The flower-headed girl was in her usual tangerine pajamas. Kuroko could tell Uiharu must have been tired last night because the shirt was only about half buttoned and the pants seemed to have been forgotten altogether, revealing her blue striped panties.

The sight didn't bother Kuroko in the slightest. The pair had taken several baths together back when Kuroko was staying over every night. They were way beyond the point of embarrassment at something as simple as that.

She was slightly worried though. "What's made you so tired?" she asked.

Uiharu yawned and rubbed her eyes, "Test yesterday. Pulled a couple all nighters... plus this Judgment case is really taking it out of me... Good morning by the way." She greeted her friend with a smile.

Kuroko smiled back, "Good morning. Try not to pull all nighters. It's better to be well rested for a test. Especially given how prone to sickness you are. What happens if you catch a cold the day of a test?"

Uiharu scoffed, "I can't believe you're advising me about study habits. You cram just like I do, and you're worse since you cram for every subject rather than just your weakest ones. And what's with you trying to lecture me about health?"

"I never get sick," Kuroko reminded her.

"Just injured," Uiharu said, shaking the last vestiges of sleep from her body. "Speaking of which..."

Kuroko sighed and teleported her vest, shirt, and skirt off of herself and onto a pile on the floor beside her. Now just in her underwear and the athletic tape she sat down at the table. "It's just a bruise on my shoulder and a cut on my cheek," she said, though she knew Uiharu wouldn't be satisfied with that, considering how often she lied about it in the past.

Uiharu crawled over and checked on the areas in question, verifying her claims. The bruise wasn't too bad but it could do with an ice pack, which she'd get once she was done here.

Then she checked out the cheek. She wasn't too surprised to see there was a band-aid on it, but she was surprised by the design of it. She knew her friend would never put a band-aid with such a childish design on her own face. Someone must have done it for her.

"Who treated this?" she asked.

"Nobody," was Kuroko's unexpectedly harsh reply.

"Oh... that person..." Uiharu sighed, knowing that there was only one subject that could inspire such irritation in her friend.

"I don't get it... I show up for our rematch and that person is..." Kuroko began ranting.

"That person", as Kuroko called them, was what half of their conversations recently had been about. She didn't know the person's name, just that they were a powerful electro master who had beaten Kuroko in several confrontations, much to the teleporter's chagrin.

Uiharu knew all about what a sore loser Kuroko was, so at first she was willing to accept that that was the source of the teleporter's obsession with "That person". But now…

"... and now I just can't stop thinking about that person... I'm sure that person did something to me. Maybe their lightning did something to my brain..." Kuroko continued the rant.

Things like that told Uiharu all she needed to hear to know what the true source of the teleporter's obsession was. That person was a guy who the teleporter had fallen for. It was kind of cute actually, seeing her friend worrying about a boy, thinking that she hated him when in fact she was in love.

Well... it was cute at first, but now it was kind of grating on Uiharu's nerves. There was a limit to how dense someone could be. Blaming clear signs of attraction and love on "invisible lightning" was past that limit. Uiharu had been waiting to let Kuroko figure it out on her own, but she was done with waiting. She needed to give her friend a little... push.

"I think I know why you can't get that person out of your head," Uiharu began, interrupting Kuroko's ranting as the flower-headed girl examined the auburn haired girl's torso for any bruises that were too fresh to be seen. The teleporter's attention immediately turned to Uiharu, stopping mid syllable to fix the other girl with a rapt gaze.

"Why?" Kuroko knew how smart Uiharu was. If she said she knew the answer then Kuroko was one-hundred percent sure that she was right.

"It's love. You love this person," She said, dragging her fingers along Kuroko's collarbone feeling for any tenderness.

"WHAT?! NO! No no no no no no no!" Kuroko shook her head furiously, a look of genuine horror on her face.

Uiharu giggled in amusement at this reaction but her words were soft and comforting rather than teasing, "it's ok... love is natural."

"No! I'm not in love! I'm not! I swear I'm straight!" Kuroko protested, causing Uiharu to stop for a second in her actions.

"Eh?" Uiharu asked, confused and surprised. What was Kuroko talking about? "straight"? wait... did that mean?

Kuroko took the surprise and confusion in Uiharu's voice as disbelief. Her frightened gaze turned into a sharp glare, "I am not gay!"

"Ahh... ummm... it's ok." Uiharu said, trying to calm her friend down despite not quite knowing the full situation. Apparently "That person" wasn't a guy at all, but a girl. But did that mean that Kuroko wasn't in love? Or did it mean...

Again, Kuroko misunderstood Uiharu's intentions, seeing the "it's ok" as, "it's ok... I don't mind that you're gay" rather than "it's ok... I was just kidding". Kuroko gripped Uiharu's shoulders, gazing into her eyes, "I'm not gay." She repeated. "I'll prove it."

The next thing Uiharu knew Kuroko had pushed her down and pressed her lips to Uiharu's. The flower-headed girl's brain exploded with thousands of thoughts and feelings as she was kissed by her best friend.

There was confusion about what had happened to cause this and more confusion about what to do now that it had happened. There was a part of her that was immensely embarrassed to be kissing another girl, even if it was her best friend. And there was a part of her that was worried about Kuroko, seeing how distraught she seemed to be and wondering if she would calm down soon.

But worst of all there was a part of Uiharu that was enjoying this. Kuroko's lips were soft, molding themselves against Uiharu's own. Though inexperienced, Kuroko was a fast learner and pressed her lips against Uiharu's with just enough pressure to be pleasant without being overbearing.

Down below, Uiharu could feel Kuroko's legs entangled with her own. With both of them in just panties Uiharu gained the full sensation of Kuroko's firm, toned legs moving against hers. The smoothness of the teleporter's thighs contrasted with the roughness of the tape. Kuroko's hands were pinning Uiharu's shoulders to the ground firmly, but not firmly enough to hurt.

Uiharu's own hands were still placed against Kuroko's collarbones, frozen there by the shock of what had happened. She could feel the teleporter's heartbeat through her palms as they pressed to the soft skin just above Kuroko's bra.

Suddenly Uiharu felt as the thousands of feelings screeched to a halt, replaced by one single thought. '_Her tongue?! why's she putting her tongue in?! wh- oh god!'_ Uiharu's brain short-circuited for a second as her entire body exploded in a deep crimson blush.

* * *

Uiharu wasn't aware of how long the kiss lasted after that, only aware that she was feeling dizzy as Kuroko pulled away.

"See!" Kuroko declared. "I didn't feel anything. I'm completely straight." It was only at this point that Kuroko wondered what she was supposed to be feeling. After all, that had been her first kiss,so she didn't really have anything to compare it to.

"Uggh, so it doesn't prove anything... It might just be that I did it wrong." Kuroko whined before a thought occurred to her. "Maybe I just need more practice. Then I'll know I'm doing it right and I can prove for sure that I'm straight."

She looked down at Uiharu. The flower-headed girl paled as her eyes went wide. She began to say something in protest but she was silenced as Kuroko's lips met hers yet again.

* * *

Author's Note: While it would be fair to call this story Kuroko-centric (like my others) Uiharu also plays a significant role. As I tried to highlight in this chapter the two have a deep and extremely important relationship, far more so than they had in canon. Because of this Uiharu has a lot of significance in this story and in fact I plan to have her be the star of the second arc, though that might change a little depending on how that all goes...

Point being... if you're an Uiharu fan you're in luck with this fic.

Oh and as for the KuroHaru elements... I can't say that this chapter is the last time it surfaces but at this point I haven't decided whether or not to make it a major point in the story. If you guys have any opinions be sure to tell me. It won't ever be to the point of becoming girlfriends, but a bit of ship tease here and there wouldn't hurt much.


	3. Misaka

"I'm sorry. I went a little too far," Kuroko repeated as she and Uiharu sat in a cake shop that the pair frequented.

The atmosphere of the place was generally pleasant, with gentle yellow lights hanging from simple but elegant ceiling fixtures, soft chairs that had a sense of elegance about them while still maintaining a homely charm, and dark wooden tables that were spotless without being artificially shiny.

However, at their table the atmosphere was far more tense. Uiharu's anger was a rare sight, but when it was present it had a habit of tainting the very air around them with a cold heaviness that made Kuroko and anyone else in the vicinity unable to ignore it.

Uiharu seemed to be ignoring her, having not spoken a word since the pair had left, despite Kuroko's countless apologies. Kuroko hoped that the selection of three cakes splayed before her, Kuroko's treat of course, would help thaw her cold shoulder a bit.

'_Literally,_ Kuroko thought as she shivered and saw the thin layer of frost that covered the plastic leaves of Uiharu's flower wreath. Strong emotions tended to increase an ESPer's ability.

Uiharu's ability to maintain temperature turned into a slight control of it when she was overwhelmed with a particular emotion. Counter-intuitively, anger and excitement were cold while sorrow and disappointment were hot.

Luckily, the cakes seemed to work somewhat to loosen her tongue as her gaze met Kuroko's in a glare, "A little?!" she practically screeched. "You made out with me for an hour and a half! And you..." Uiharu's face was consumed by a blush at the memories as she crossed her arms over her chest and shuddered, "I can never get married now..." She whimpered before glaring at Kuroko again. "I hope it was worth it," she huffed.

'_It was.'_ Kuroko thought. '_No matter what I did, I didn't feel anything. That means I'm one hundred percent straight.'_ However saying that out loud would be insensitive beyond belief so instead she hung her head and said, "It wasn't. I'm so sorry for doing that. I wasn't thinking straight."

Uiharu huffed again as she stuffed another bite of cake into her mouth. "Honestly... having my first kiss taken by my best friend. It should be with someone you love..."

Kuroko could feel the air get even colder. Obviously her apology wasn't cutting it. Time for a different tactic. Kuroko lifted her head, looking deeply into Uiharu's eyes as she said, "But I _do_ love you. You're my best friend. You're the most important person in the world to me."

Uiharu was someone to whom friends were extremely important. With her kind and inviting attitude, she made friends quickly and once they became her friend she would be willing to do almost anything for them. For people like that, hearing that they were just as important to their friends as their friends were to them was one of life's greatest joys.

Uiharu's blush deepened instantly, and the warmth seemed to radiate so strongly that the cold air warmed to normal almost immediately. "Th-that's not what I meant," she stammered, but

Kuroko could hear the happiness seeping into her voice among the embarrassment.

"I know," Kuroko assured her, "and I'm sorry. But you really did help me. I'm not confused anymore. I know for sure I'm straight now." The teleporter smiled triumphantly before taking a bite of her own slice of cake.

Uiharu raised her eyebrow. '_You just spent the majority of the last two hours kissing and groping a girl and that proves that you're straight?'_ Uiharu thought with exasperation. Her friend was truly hopeless when it came to things like love.

Amongst the exasperation was a measure of irritation and a touch of hurt as well. Was Uiharu really such a bad kisser that Kuroko hadn't felt anything? Was she really so unattractive that she had inspired such certainty in Kuroko's heterosexuality?

Uiharu sighed and looked up at Kuroko. "Can you tell me a little more about this person?" she asked. Normally she avoided asking questions, already annoyed at how much Kuroko talked about that person and not wanting to give her even more excuses to talk about them.

But considering that it had been her ignorance of something as simple as that person's gender that had caused the events of the past couple hours,she decided that it would be in her best interest to get the full story.

* * *

Kuroko finished chewing before taking a deep breath and telling the story of her first confrontation with Misaka. "A week after that," Kuroko said, continuing the story, "I saw her again. It was at the school entrance ceremony. It had barely begun when I heard some of the girls next to me whispering and pointing at something. Normally I would ignore them and listen to the Principal's speech, no matter how boring it was," Kuroko lied, "but today I decided to glance in the direction they were pointing and I saw that same girl from the week before. I felt an urge to teleport over and start a fight, but being kicked out of school before it even begun is not a shame I could bear easily, delinquent or not."

"So instead, I decided to listen in on their conversation, maybe gain a little information on my opponent. Apparently she is a level five, nicknamed the Railgun and known as the Ace of Tokiwadai," Kuroko explained.

"Of course, I was certain I could beat her despite her being a level five, so after school I tailed her eager for a rematch..."

* * *

Ever since Kuroko had turned Verdict into a gang rather than had it as a personal symbol things had gotten a lot more organized. She had stopped wandering around back alleys looking for random delinquents to fight.

Now, they took on other gangs, and for that all the fists in the world couldn't help her if she knew nothing about her opponents. Scouting, shadowing, and questioning became as important, or indeed more important, as the fighting, and in Verdict Kuroko was the undisputed master of those first two activities.

Thus it was with practiced ease that Kuroko followed Misaka out of the Gardens of Education, an area in which Kuroko could not afford to start a fight, and into an alley. It was quite a wide alley, with a row of high rise residential apartments to either side. Despite the proximity to the Gardens of Education this place was not a very high class area of town.

The alley was strewn with pieces of trash that people had not bothered to toss into the dumpsters at either end of the space between the buildings. The dumpsters themselves were pitted with countless dents and the green paint had started to fade, replaced with the red of rust. The alley was dark as the shadow of the buildings drowned out any trace of sunlight save for the slivers that filtered through either end.

Misaka stopped about halfway down the alley. Considering the space for a second and said loudly and clearly, "Who are you and what do you want." She wasn't too worried. She was kind of used to these things, to being stalked, what with her crazy fan club and all. She was a level five and so she could handle herself.

Despite the fact that it had been clear to the teleporter that Misaka had known about her shadowing for a while, Kuroko could not help but be impressed that she had figured it out. Her ability allowed her to tail people soundlessly and from such a distance that even clairvoyants could feel little but a slight niggling that suggested her presence, so for Misaka to be able to tell was not an easy feat, to be sure.

Her fight with Sogiita had shown her the power of a level five, but that had been awhile ago, and she was only now recalling the begrudging amazement she had felt back then.

Kuroko appeared a quarter of the way down the alley, facing Misaka from a distance away. "My name is Shirai Kuroko, and I am here for a rematch," she said, her hands curled into fists and her eyes narrowed into a sharp glare that could make even the most fearsome of delinquents shiver in their boots.

Misaka suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to yawn. "Oh... you.." She droned, unimpressed. She did recognize this person. She had been that especially durable condescending pest from a week ago. Her mind cast over the uniform she wore. "Tokiwadai eh? You weren't wearing that last time. New student I'm guessing." Misaka sighed.

She momentarily considered her request for a rematch, but she didn't feel much like fighting right now. "I don't make it a habit to beat up my classmates, so why not just run along." It wasn't like the girl could beat her anyway. Misaka was a level five, the worst this girl could ever be was a pest, a harmless fly to be swatted away the moment it got too annoying.

This theory was proved false quite quickly however as the girl suddenly appeared in front of her and drove her fist into Misaka's stomach so fast and so hard that it drove the air completely out of the electro master's lungs and made her stumble backwards in surprise and pain. Had her ability not sensed the punch coming and tensed her abdomen milliseconds before the collision the blow might have knocked her out.

"Hmph, you're durable I give you that, most people take one hit and they're down for the count. I warn you though, nobody can take two," Kuroko echoed mockingly as she stepped back.

The electromaster, now sufficiently pissed off, jerked her head upward and glared at Kuroko before unleashing a powerful bolt of lightning at the other girl. The head jerk was enough warning for Kuroko though as she teleported before the bolt struck her, appearing behind Misaka and driving her elbow into the other girl's back, causing her to stumble forward this time as pain shot along her spine.

Kuroko didn't give her opponent time to recover this time as she spun on her heel and got ready to deliver the final blow, a kick aimed directly at Misaka's head that would easily knock her unconscious.

That was, if it had hit her. Misaka's hand shot to the side and clenched into a fist before the blow could connect and Kuroko felt her leg stop dead in its tracks, the black band of nails on her thigh pulling backwards, keeping her leg in place. Sparks of electricity leaped from the nails into Kuroko's skin, creating a harsh stinging sensation not unlike what the nails themselves would feel like if driven into her flesh.

Misaka straightened up and turned around, moving her hand as well. The movement transferred to the bands of nails as well as the person attached to them, causing Kuroko to slam into the gray concrete walls of one of the apartment buildings. Her leg stuck out to the side as if she were still in mid-kick as her arms were crossed over her chest, the nails hidden under the tape of her forearm acting as the strings of the puppet that Misaka had created out of Kuroko.

Misaka took in shallow breaths, the punch having made it painful to breathe in too deeply. Her back was also hurting from Kuroko's other blow. She could not remember the last time anyone had injured her. Misaka's reflexes were unmatched, indeed with her ability they were unmatchable. And yet this girl had actually hurt her...

Sparks danced dangerously along Misaka's fringe as she ground her teeth and clenched her hands into fists.

Pain and fear feeding a growing rage.

Her eyes narrowed into a glare at Kuroko. "I bet you think you're so tough don't you?" She seethed at the pinned teleporter. "You got in a couple lucky shots and now you probably think you're some big damn hotshot. I hate people like you," she growled.

Kuroko felt something tugging at the leg that was still touching the ground and saw as two of the nails from that band flew up and pressed against her shoulders. "People who think their powers make them invincible, people who speak down to others just because they're stronger, people who think that might makes right. Well you know what... there are people stronger than you are. There are bigger fish than you in the ocean. It would do you well not to underestimate them."

Kuroko returned the glare before closing her eyes. Teleportation took delicate calculation and immense concentration, sudden distractions like pain, or noise, or light could ruin it. But pain had been Kuroko's entire world for so long that she had learned to feed on it. She siphoned the agony from the sparks and built a cocoon in her mind.

The torment focused her mind and allowed her to teleport the two nails from her shoulders into Misaka's. "Don't underestimate me either, or next time the nails might pierce something a little more vital." Kuroko threatened.

The electro master cried out at the sudden stabbing and her fist clenched tighter. Kuroko's arms were pushing against her chest so tightly it was tough to breath and her legs were pressing against the building hard enough that the slight bumps and imperfections in the concrete were digging painfully into her skin.

The pain of the lightning increased as well. Kuroko could feel as the flesh underneath the athletic tape covering the nails on her wrists was scorched by the heat of the electrified pieces of iron. The pain Kuroko felt overtook the threshold that allowed her to teleport, leaving her completely helpless once again.

Suddenly she heard Misaka laugh, the sound was hollow, cold, and humorless. It sent a chill along Kuroko's spine as it echoed around the alley. She saw as Misaka's body relaxed, the anger melting away to be replaced by that sort of tense calmness of a cobra before striking.

Her eyes narrowed further and her gaze felt dangerously sharp, as if she was hoping to cut the teleporter to pieces with concentration alone... and in Academy City such a wish was hardly far-fetched, especially when it was a level five wishing it. "You're right... I guess I did underestimate you," she said, her voice utterly calm, a fact which terrified Kuroko more than any level of anger could. "You are a threat, and I should treat you as such."

A bolt of lightning, small but concentrated struck Kuroko. It was weaker than most of the ones before, but it was precise, targeted. Striking at her shoulder like a spear of heat and sending pain and a creeping numbness throughout the limb.

Then another one, more powerful, struck the same spot. Over and over again the electricity tore at her shoulders and hips until, one by one, her muscles and nerves gave out with a scream of fiery agony. The paralysis left her utterly powerless and, soon after that, unconscious.

* * *

"She tortured you?!" Uiharu gasped, horrified at her friends description of the events.

Kuroko shook her head, both to refute Uiharu's assumption and to try and clear the memory, the memory of being pinned to the wall like a puppet and then toyed with, from her head.

The dull throbbing between Kuroko's legs that that memory always brought on was growing stronger and she could hardly ease it in public. "I thought that was what it was at the time as well. But now, looking back on it, I don't think she was trying to cause me pain. If she had she could have just zapped the pain section of my brain or used a low voltage charge across every one of my nerve endings. I don't think she was torturing me... I think she was... testing me. Looking for my limits. Electricity is an odd thing. Some people die if they're struck by lightning one time, other people can be struck thirteen times without dying. I had already proved that I was one of those people who can be struck quite a bit,so she knew that her normal level of power wouldn't cut it. But she probably didn't want to go too much higher without knowing what I could take."

"Don't you think that's a little too much though?" Uiharu insisted, still immensely bothered by what Kuroko had told her.

"Well actually I don't..." Kuroko said, rubbing the back of her head and looking away. "I attacked her for no reason other than I wanted revenge for being beaten. She gave me a chance to back down but I didn't take it. Then she disabled me relatively painlessly and gave me another chance to surrender and instead of taking it I demonstrated the ability and willingness to hurt her. The fact that she didn't zap me indiscriminately and instead tried to ensure that, if and when we fought again, she could put me down quickly without hurting me too badly shows just how merciful she really was," Kuroko explained.

Unlike Uiharu, the teleporter had seen and shown many different kinds of mercy in her time as Verdict.

Sometimes a bit of pain was actually the most merciful course of action.

Uiharu looked unconvinced, but she did consider her friend's words and saw that there was a bit of truth in them. "What happened next?" She finally asked.

"I spent a week or so doing research into her. Into her power, and into her life. I figured out what she could do, where she went, and when she went there. After a week I considered myself ready to face her again..."

* * *

It was a warm and windy evening as Misaka began to make her way back to the dorm. Curfew was drawing close and, even though she'd probably arrive half an hour before it struck, it was hardly worth being late and rousing the Dorm Mistress's anger for a few more minutes at the arcade.

At the thought of the Dorm Mistress and her vicious punishments, Misaka felt a chill run down her spine. She felt her pace quicken and she decided to cut through a few alleys to get back more quickly. One could never be too careful when something like that was hanging over her shoulders.

She was just darting in between a narrow side street when she froze. She saw, standing at the end of the alley, that girl from a week ago. For a moment, thoughts of the Dorm Mistress vanished from the electro master's mind. She felt a dull ache in her shoulders where the nails had been embedded. And that calm rage from before settled over her mind once again.

There was silence for a moment as the two glared at each other. Suddenly an object appeared several feet in front of Misaka and clattered noisily on the ground. Misaka gave it barely a glance, not allowing herself to be distracted.

"Austenitic 304 grade stainless steel nails," Kuroko explained as she flashed the slivers of metal that were held between each of her fingers. "Completely non-magnetic and resistant to electric current." Her voice was slow, steady, and held an edge of danger to it that even Misaka could feel.

"You really think that will be enough?" Misaka said, her own voice just as calm and slow, yet even more dangerous than Kuroko's. This time Misaka understood that this was a dangerous person she was facing. There would be no more carelessness. "There is iron all around." She said as tiny fragments of iron dust swirled around her, buzzing dangerously. "And even if there wasn't I still have my lightning." On command sparks shot from her forehead, dancing among the iron fragments in the air.

The tension in the air was so thick and heavy that it was getting difficult to breathe. The feeling was identical to the moment of a shootout between two cowboys where someone has yet to draw their gun from their holster, even down to the piercing gaze that the two girls fixed each other with.

They both knew it was all down to the first move. Teleportation was instantaneous and lightning was so quick that it might as well be. Both had the capacity to make sure the first move was also the last and both knew that if they did not finish it in one move then their opponent would. Both had every reason to act and no reason to hesitate, and yet the seconds still ticked by.

'This isn't me...' they both thought simultaneously.

Kuroko was an ally of justice. She might be on the side of the demons but she was still an angel at heart. The only thing she could do to win in a single move would cripple the other girl.

This person she was facing down might have beat her and tortured her, but she wasn't bad enough that an angel would be willing to take such a drastic step. Kuroko might have been the one to seek her out and engage her once again, but she found herself hesitating when it actually came time to act.

Misaka might not be an ally of justice, she might dance on the line between demon and angel, but that didn't mean that she was a monster. The only thing she could do to win in a single move would be a bolt of lightning powerful enough to do some serious damage to the other girl.

The other girl might have hurt her, she might be a threat to her, but she wasn't so bad that Misaka was willing to do something so drastic just to stop her. Misaka knew she had every reason, every right, to hurt the other girl, but she found herself hesitating when it actually came time to act.

So the two just stood there, everything but their consciences urging them to take the first move, yet their moral codes holding them back. Seconds that felt like eternities ticked by as the otherwise quiet night air buzzed with the sound of vibrating iron and steady breathing.

Then the quiet was shattered by the voice of a girl screaming, "Don't! Stop! Help, please!"

Kuroko instantly disappeared. No petty rivalry or quest for revenge was worth ignoring a cry for help. With two teleportations she appeared in a nearby alley where three guys were surrounding a girl, one of them pinning her to the wall as she cowered in fear beneath their grinning faces.

Kuroko teleported the nails she was grasping into the arms of the one who pinned the girl. The sudden intense pain made him let go as he cried out in pain and surprise. Kuroko appeared behind him gripping the bandana around his neck.'_Yellow... so it's that gang,'_ she thought, recalling the same bandana on the thugs that had assaulted Misaka a couple weeks ago. '_It seems I'll need to deal with them,'_ She decided as she yanked the man backwards and down, causing him to hit his head hard on the stone ground. Then she stepped forward and slammed another of the delinquent's heads against the wall as she delivered a kick to the stomach of the third.

As the three collapsed to the ground from their various injuries Kuroko looked towards the girl who she had rescued. "Are you alright?" she asked.

The girl nodded. "Thank you..." she whispered, still clearly terrified. '_this is how people are supposed to act,' _Kuroko thought with satisfaction.

"It's dangerous around here. You should head home," the teleporter said.

The girl opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her eyes were still full of fear.

"Would you like me to escort you?" Kuroko offered, and the girl nodded frantically.

Kuroko sighed and held her hand out. The girl grabbed it and the pair disappeared. She'd get the girl's address when they were away from the alley and the girl was a bit more articulate.

Then she'd needed to head back to the dorm…

* * *

"After that I forgot about Misaka-san for a while. I decided to take out this gang with the yellow bandanas. The next time I met her was actually an accident..."

* * *

Injury and fatigue sent burning agony throughout Kuroko's body as she stumbled away from the dead end street where the leader of the Gold Sashes, the gang with the yellow bandanas, had made his final stand. He was an illusionist who could bend light around him, making her teleportation next to useless against him. She was forced to chase him for quite a distance before she had managed to corner him.

As it turned out though, it had been her who had been cornered. She was ambushed by eighteen other members of the Gold Sashes.

Despite how heavily they outnumbered her she had beaten them (it is difficult to surround a teleporter after all, and she had simply retreated into an alley where they could only fight her a couple at a time) and claimed her prize. Now seven bandanas adorned her waist.

However, the fight had left her anything but unscathed. Bruises, cuts, and a bloody nose made her look quite a mess. Exhaustion and pain made her steps falter as she walked away from the street onto the next one over. She lost her balance for a moment and collided with a streetlamp, sending pain lancing down her arm and across her shoulder.

As she opened her eyes she was surprised to see Misaka standing there. For her part Misaka looked just as surprised to see her.

Kuroko smiled, so full of confidence and adrenaline that she felt like she could take on the world, even with these injuries. And if she could take on the world why couldn't she take on the electromaster?

"Ah... Misaka Mikoto. I was just thinking that nineteen was a bit of a weird number. I guess once I beat you it'll be a nice even twenty," Kuroko said as she straightened her posture, only to cough twice. She could taste blood on the second one, and saw how it sprayed onto her uniform, dying the beige vest even more red than it had been earlier.

"What happened to you? Are you alright?" Misaka asked. The tone was familiar to Kuroko, holding that same sort of worry and concern that Uiharu always spoke to her with.

"I'm fine. Let's just have our rematch," she said as she raised her fists up. She was far too tired and in far too much pain to teleport and she wasn't sure she could support herself with one leg at the moment, so punching was all she had. She shambled forward unsteadily, her legs too tired to manage any sort of speed at the moment.

"What? No. Look how hurt you are," Misaka said as she approached the girl. Clearly she was insane if she thought she could fight in this condition. How in the world had she gotten this injured?

"I don't need your pity," Kuroko growled as she threw a punch at Misaka.

The electromaster deftly ducked under the punch and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around the teleporter's waist. Kuroko felt hands running up her back and then... nothing. Her arms and legs fell limp at her side, all pain that had been radiating from them suddenly vanishing.

"Wha-what did you do to me?!" she demanded, the loss of feeling in her arms and legs causing her to panic.

"Temporary paralysis," Misaka explained as she shifted her position, slinging one of Kuroko's arms over her shoulder. The electromaster then slipped a hand around the teleporter's waist as the other gripped the wrist of the arm that was slung over her shoulder, supporting the other girl's weight as she stood up again. "My power allows me control over people's nervous systems. I simply stopped the signals travelling along your spine. I'm sorry that it paralyzed you, I would just stop the pain signals if I could but I'm not that good at it yet." She sounded genuinely apologetic as she said that. "I promise I'll restore you when we get to the hospital, but until then I'm pretty sure you'd rather be numb anyway."

"I don't need your pity. I can still fight," Kuroko repeated.

"Then don't consider this pity. Consider it selfish. I don't want to fight an opponent who isn't one-hundred percent," Misaka sighed, almost admiring the other girl's stubbornness.

Kuroko huffed but she had nothing to say to that as Misaka walked the two down the street in the direction of the nearest hospital.

As the electro master walked, she glanced down at the direction the teleporter had come from. She saw a large group of people all unconscious on the ground. She stopped a moment as her eyes widened. Had the teleporter really done this?

Misaka was about to demand to know what happened when she saw the yellow bandanas that all of the people seemed to be wearing. She suddenly recalled seeing identical yellow bandanas on the people who had attacked her a few weeks ago, and the people who had attacked that other girl last week. "Did they do this to you?" she asked, her voice soft and full of concern. An ember of anger remained in her eyes but now it was directed at these unconscious thugs.

"The Gold Sashes, a recently formed delinquent group that quickly got a large number of members. Because they mostly stick in small groups and target civilians, they've mostly gone under our radar but we managed to get them all today," Kuroko bragged, her voice full of arrogant pride.

"You went after... I've heard rumors about you at school. I thought you were the delinquent." Misaka asked, confused. Indeed the school had been so abuzz with the rumor of a delinquent student that even Misaka, who rarely bothered with things like rumors, had heard about it.

"I am," Kuroko admitted, not ashamed at all of that fact anymore, "But I am a different kind of delinquent. I am Verdict, and my verdict is guilty. My gang and I hunt the scum of this city that Judgment is too restricted by their rules and procedures to bother with."

"I see... like vigilantes," Misaka nodded as she continued on her way to the hospital, Kuroko in tow. There were times when Misaka fancied herself a bit like a vigilante as well, so she could understand and appreciate where the teleporter was coming from. It was quite a bit different than what she had heard from her classmates, who had painted Kuroko as a vicious yankee monster.

"Exactly," Kuroko confirmed.

"So tell me..." Misaka began, her voice gaining an edge of steel as a thought occurred to her, "Is that why you hunt me? Am I part of that scum of the city that you were talking about?"

Kuroko sighed. "No..." she admitted, her voice a combination of ashamed and annoyed. "Everything I hear about you seems to suggest you're a perfectly pleasant person. Granted your temper is foul, you're violent, and you're crude..." Kuroko left the sentence hanging in the air.

"But..." Misaka prompted, irritated at the criticism and hoping that the but would be really good.

"There isn't a but," Kuroko told her. "You're hardly the nice and kind ojou-sama that our classmates think you are. But just because you aren't as perfect as people expect you to be doesn't mean you're a thug who hurts innocents, and those are the people I go after."

"So does that mean you're going to stop bugging me for a rematch?" Misaka asked.

"No way. I'm not going to let you go until I've beaten you," Kuroko stated. "But... I think I went a little too far before and I do wish to apologize for that."

Misaka sighed, "You aren't the only one who went too far. I'm sorry for what I did during our first meeting, and our second one. I hurt you way more fiercely than I should have. I just... don't like being talked down to so I kind of lashed out. And that second time... It had been a long time since somebody has caused me any injury at all. I just got a bit..."

"Scared?" Kuroko supplied, then chuckled. "Good." If she could scare the electromaster then it meant Kuroko was an actual threat to her. That other level five Kuroko had fought, Sogiita Gunha, hadn't seen her as a threat at all and it still irked Kuroko. Losing was one thing, being brushed off was another, being brushed off after losing was unforgivable.

"I wasn't scared," Misaka protested angrily. She had the urge to push the teleporter away or zap her or something but the other girl was hardly in the sort of state where she could take such a thing, so Misaka settled with a frown and a glare.

"I just beat up nineteen people in one go all by myself. There's no shame in calling me a worthy opponent," Kuroko boasted.

Misaka was silent for a moment, looking off into the distance. "Yeah," she finally admitted. "You are a worthy opponent... the only one I've had in a long time. That's why you should get better as quickly as you can." The electromaster said with a smile.

Despite being numb below the neck Kuroko could feel her heart skip a beat as she gazed at the electro master's face. A deep blush colored the teleporter's face as she looked anywhere but the other girl, annoyed as the memory of that brilliant smile followed her.

* * *

"It was five days later, right after our meeting that Sunday, that I saw her next."

* * *

It was another warm day. Misaka was walking through a park she frequented when her ability alerted her to a presence which had suddenly appeared behind her, making her stop.

"Misaka Mikoto," A familiar voice said from behind.

Misaka tilted her head to see Kuroko standing several feet away. Her eyes scanned the teleporter's body before she nodded. "You seem to have healed up nicely." The electromaster noted with a smile.

"Yes. I'm back at one-hundred percent as you so crudely put it. Which means I'm here for our rematch." Kuroko smiled as she cracked her knuckles.

Misaka sighed. "Sure... just give me a minute," she agreed, knowing refusing wasn't really an option. She glanced to the side. "I'm a bit thirsty, what about you? Fancy a drink?"

Kuroko frowned, unhappy at the delay. "I'm fine," she insisted, already tapping her foot impatiently.

Misaka shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said as she drew back and delivered a powerful kick to the vending machine. She heard a can of soda drop into the tray and bent down to pick it up but suddenly found herself staring at the roof of one of the buildings overlooking the park.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kuroko screeched tugging at her auburn hair as her eyes bugged out.

"Whoa... wouldn't have expected a delinquent to react so strongly to such a petty crime." Misaka raised an eyebrow at Kuroko. "Surely you do far worse."

"But I'm careful about it," Kuroko growled. "When a vending machine like that is kicked it sends out a wireless alert to any security robots within a hundred meters," Kuroko explained, gesturing towards the machine that was now swarmed by three of the trash-can looking security robots that policed Academy City. "They automatically send a photo of the vandals to Judgment and attempt to detain them."

"So what, vandalism is what... a ten-thousand yen fine? You go to Tokiwadai, you can't exactly be hurting for money." Misaka huffed, still not seeing the big deal.

Kuroko's eye twitched, "I don't care about the money, it's the spot on my criminal record that matters. Ever since I formed Verdict I have kept my criminal record absolutely spotless, which is not an easy thing mind you. Unlike you, the level five Ace of Tokiwadai, I don't have the luxury of misbehavior. Tokiwadai despises having a delinquent in their school. They would do anything to get rid of me if I give them a reason. I am constantly on such thin ice that a feather falling onto it would break it. So having people going at it with a hammer is not my ideal situation," she explained, seething with irritation.

"Some delinquent you are," Misaka scoffed. "You sound more like an honors student."

"That's exactly the point. As long as I act like an honors student when people are looking they can't justify treating me like a delinquent, regardless of how I act when they aren't looking."

Kuroko expalined. "But that isn't the issue."

"Eh?" Misaka asked, tilting her head in confusion. "If that isn't what bothered you then what is?"

Kuroko met her eyes for a moment before grabbing the hem of the electro master's skirt. "Why in the world," She began as she yanked the hem up, "are you wearing shorts under your skirt?"

Misaka blushed and hit Kuroko as hard as she could on the head before stepping out of her grasp. "Why the hell were you looking pervert?!" She demanded, glaring at the teleporter.

Kuroko met the glare with one of her own. "I couldn't help but see when you did that ridiculous roundhouse kick. What kind of lady wears shorts under her skirt?"

"Apparently it's necessary if perverts like you are trying to peek."

"I wouldn't have been able to if you hadn't been kicking vending machines," Kuroko retorted.

"If you're worried about people seeing just wear panties you don't feel embarrassed been seen in." The teleporter explained, kicking up in the air allowing Misaka a brief glimpse of her own panties.

The electro master exploded into a deep crimson at the ridiculously mature lacey purple panties that she had seen for an instant. "W-w-w... You aren't embarrassed to be seen in those?!" she stammered, confused how anyone could possibly not be embarrassed by panties with such a provocative design.

"Of course not. They show off my maturity and elegance," Kuroko explained slowly, as if she was speaking to a child.

Her tone had such an air of pompous arrogance that Misaka's embarrassment instantly turned to annoyance. Unfortunately, it then turned right back to embarrassment as Kuroko said, "I mean, it's not like I'm wearing character panties or anything ridiculous like that."

There was an awkward silence. Kuroko glanced at Misaka, then gaped. "You don't mean... you aren't..." Kuroko facepalmed and stepped forward to grasp Misaka's wrist, "Seventh Mist! Now!" she ordered as they disappeared.

* * *

"After that we spent the whole day shopping. By the end I had completely forgotten that we were supposed to be having a rematch. We fought the next time we met but... after that it kind of changed. The fights became more like sparring. We didn't really try to hurt each other and we stopped before one of us had been beaten unconscious. And she always tried to delay and distract me, offering to go have tea and cake, insisting on taking a walk after our match, or just sitting down and having a talk before we fought," Kuroko explained. "It annoys me so much that she doesn't take it seriously any more. It annoys me so much that I just can't get her out of my head no matter how hard I try. And this stupid invisible lightning she's started shooting me with..." Kuroko put her head in her hands. "I hate that person, I hate her so much," she said through gritted teeth.

"Umm... Shirai-san... I don't think it's that she's stopped taking you seriously... I think she wants to be friends with you," Uiharu stated.

"I don't want to be her friend. I hate her," Kuroko repeated tugging at her hair.

'_You clearly don't,' _Uiharu thought, looking at her friend. After hearing everything that the teleporter had said and taking into account their earlier conversations about this subject, the flower-headed girl was back to the opinion that Kuroko did love this Misaka person, even if she was a girl.

Love was blind after all, and Uiharu had heard about people who were completely heterosexual until they met that one person who they had fallen in love with despite their gender. Alternatively Kuroko could just be a lesbian or bisexual to begin with. It wasn't like she had had any loves before now that Uiharu knew about and it could simply be that the flower-headed girl wasn't her type.

The only problem was how deeply into the closet Kuroko had managed to bury herself. She would never admit to being gay, even if it was just for one individual, without some sort of proof.

'Proof...' Uiharu repeated in her head. It was risky but... "You don't need to convince me Shirai-san. I believe you. In fact,I'm sure you could go up and kiss Misaka-san with no issue at all."

Uiharu could practically see the idea entering Kuroko's mind and sticking there. "Yeah... I bet I could," The teleporter nodded.

'_I'm sorry, Misaka-san,'_ Uiharu thought, remembering what she had been forced to endure for the sake of "proof". Still... it was to help her best friend, and that knowledge soothed the flower-headed girl's conscience.

The conversation died after that and their slices of cake had long since been finished, so the two friends decided to part ways. They left the cake shop together and Kuroko waved at Uiharu. "Thanks for listening. See you next week," she said.

"Thanks for the cake. See you next week. And try and look after yourself in the meantime?" Uiharu said. Kuroko nodded numbly and disappeared. Uiharu hoped that the teleporter would feel better soon.

* * *

Kuroko's feet soon found themselves at that same park in which Misaka had kicked the vending machine and shown off those horrible shorts. Her eyes glanced towards the bench next to the machine and saw the electro master sitting there.

The girl looked up casually, smiling slightly as her eyes fell upon Kuroko. "Ahhh, hey there Kuro-" Misaka began before catching herself. She cleared her throat, "I mean.. hey there, Shirai-san. How's your cheek?" She asked as she stood up.

The sight and voice of the electro master sent that same invisible lightning shooting through Kuroko's system. But this time Kuroko batted it aside. '_It's not love!'_ she screamed at herself within her head. '_It's not love because I'm straight. I don't love Misaka-san at all. I could kiss her with no problem at all, just like Uiharu said... no I bet it would be awful because I hate her. I'll prove that I hate her!'_

Misaka was a little concerned by the silence. She was about to ask if something was wrong when Kuroko suddenly disappeared and reappeared a few inches in front of her. The electro master's whole body tensed as her ability screamed deafening alarm bells that something had trespassed so quickly into her personal space. It automatically released dozens of warning sparks that would lash out at anyone who tried to touch her.

However the sparks were, out of habit, quite small and had never served to deter Kuroko before, despite how many times she had been on the receiving end of them. Misaka saw the body in front of her moving forward. This move confused Misaka. Her head was moving too slowly for a headbutt, her arms moved up past the shoulders in a way that would not afford any decent opportunity to punch or grapple her, and her leg's half step forward seemed to put her in a more disadvantageous position than she had been in before. Misaka had no idea what kind of attack she was supposed to be blocking.

The electro master's confusion simply increased as the collision was soft and gentle rather than the painful hardness of fists and feet. Kuroko's face took up all of Misaka's vision. The strands of curly auburn hair that dangled down, the bright green Gekota band-aid on the teleporter's cheek, and pinkish-brown eyes that swirled with hesitation for just a moment before an explosion of intense emotions swallowed up any hint of doubt or uncertainty, replacing them a hundred-fold with strength, passion, and desire before they were covered up by her eyelids.

The teleporter slightly shifted her head, increasing the soft, consistent pressure Misaka could feel upon her lips. Kuroko's arms twined around Misaka's neck, one grasping the electro master's shoulder as the other caressed her chestnut hair, fingers interweaving themselves among the messy locks. The teleporter's leg was between the electro master's, and their torsos were pressed so closely together than Misaka couldn't tell if that racing heartbeat was hers or Kuroko's.

'_She's kissing me,'_ the electromaster suddenly realized after several seconds, her brain apparently having shut down entirely to have not understood something so obvious earlier. A deep crimson blush spread from the electro master's face to the rest of her body at a speed not even her lightning could match.

She had to stop this... she had to push the teleporter away. She moved her hands forward and rested them on Kuroko's hips. There was no space in between their chests to put her hands so this would have to do. '_Now just push her away,_ she thought, but apparently the part of her brain that controlled her muscles was still shut down because she found she had no strength, or perhaps no desire, to stop this.

A million different sensations were bombarding her mind, and she was absorbing them all like a sponge, disgusted and delighted at the thousands of thoughts and feelings that danced across her thoughts and prickled at her skin.

There was a sudden pressure between Misaka's legs as Kuroko slightly raised her knee. The sensation caused Misaka to gasp. Kuroko took the opportunity to slip her tongue into the electro master's mouth, the muscle dancing nimbly as it explored this new place with boundless eagerness. This new sensation was enough to cause Misaka's mind to freeze up once more.

From the moment their lips had met Kuroko's mind had completely shattered. The world around her had fallen away and time had stopped. She was blind, deaf, and numb to anything other than this moment, to anything other than the feeling of Misaka as the teleporter held her so close one might think they would melt together if they spent too long like this.

This seemed to be exactly what Kuroko wished to happen. Never before had she experienced such pure joy, such immense excitement, or such intense pleasure. The softness of the body she was pressed up against was unmatched by anything she had ever felt before, and every time either of them moved, even if it was the smallest twitch, they would rub against each other with delicious friction.

The taste of Misaka's lips was far sweeter and richer than the most expensive and well made cakes and more addictive than the most hardcore of drugs. The scent of ozone and strawberry shampoo prickled Kuroko's nose, a more intoxicating perfume than any other she had ever come across. Even the sparks which sank into Kuroko's skin, biting at her flesh like arrows of fire, became an irresistible sensation, the scalding pain turning seamlessly into spears of pleasure which lanced at Kuroko's mind.

If invisible lightning had caused the rest of it, then this was an invisible thunderstorm exploding from within her, tearing at every inch of her with the most intense lightning imaginable. Kuroko's heart beat so fast within her ribcage that she wondered if it would explode. Every muscle in her body felt at once so weak and so powerful, as if they were a toothpick holding up an elephant.

To a bystander the kiss appeared to have lasted thirty seconds, but to Kuroko this thirty seconds had stretched out into an eternity, and yet it still ended far too soon as Misaka finally got enough lucidity to shove Kuroko away.

With the spell broken the teleporter's toothpick muscles gave out entirely and Kuroko collapsed onto the ground, auburn hair splaying out underneath her as she gazed up into the azure sky without really seeing it.

"What the hell?!" Misaka yelled lashing out at the collapsed body with lightning that would have instantly knocked out anyone else but which somehow only served to fuel Kuroko's desire. "What was that?! Why the hell did you do that?!" Panic, anger, and embarrassment tried their hardest to bury any excitement from seeping into her tone. "You-! I just-! Stay the hell away from me you sick freak! I never want to see you again!" She growled as she turned away and stormed off.

Despite being apart, Kuroko felt the invisible thunderstorm as it still raged inside of her, the ghosts of the scents and tastes and sensations lingered in her mind.

The phantom feelings and invisible thunderstorm faded slowly but surely, leaving Kuroko so numb and empty in their absence that she wondered if a piece of her hadn't been stolen from her.

A sudden realization swept through Kuroko as she quietly said, "I love her..."

* * *

Author's Note: When creating an AU like this (commonly known as a "For want of a nail" story where one small change causes big differences) there are two things you have to consider: What is the same as canon and what is different? I wanted Misaka to be in this story in a similar capacity to how she was in canon and for that there needed to be several things that were the same. Kuroko's enrollment in Tokiwadai was one such thing. However certain elements clash, Kuroko's delinquency and her Tokiwadai enrollment were two such things and working it so that they could co-exist was difficult.

Long story short, it isn't easy writing stories like this. Assuming you want it to be decent anyway...


	4. Aneki

Tap-tap-tep-tap, tap-tap-tep-tap. Kuroko sat drumming her fingers on the armrest of the large wooden chair she sat upon. It had been given to her a few months ago by one of the members of her gang who loved woodworking. It was a big, elevated chair with wide armrests and a high back intended to resemble the seat the judge sat on in a courtroom.

Embedded in the chair's armrests were several nails, causing the odd "tep" sound when her middle finger drummed against the iron head of a nail instead of wood. Though the abundance of nails in a wooden construction usually spoke of lack of skill, in this case it was a deliberate aesthetic choice meant to match the occupant's fondness for the iron spikes as weaponry.

In the months after the chair had been given to her, she had received several other gifts from other members of the gang. The gifts were more like a running gag among the members of the gang as they crafted pieces of decor similar to the judge's chair, eventually turning this, the main room of Verdict's sole permanent hideout, into a mock-up of a courtroom, complete with bench, witness stand, a table each for the defender and prosecutor, a jury box, and the bar to separate it from the gallery.

This room was where Verdict held its meetings, and most of the time it was filled with people. Today though, there was a lieutenant meeting where Kuroko would meet with Fujin and Kaga-Tsuchi to discuss various issues facing the gang.

Currently, the room was occupied by just Kuroko and Kaga-Tsuchi, with Fujin yet to arrive. Kaga-Tsuchi was reclining against the prosecutor's table, made by yet another delinquent out of discarded sheet metal and piping welded together.

Kaga-Tsuchi was a third-year student of Iwatodai, one of the five schools that resided within the Garden of Education and a rival of Tokiwadai. Their summer uniform, which Kaga-Tsuchi now wore, was composed of a vest, dress shirt, skirt, and loafers, similar to Tokiwadai's.

The vest was a stiff button up ordeal rather than the baggy sweater-like vest of Kuroko's school. In addition, the vest, shirt, skirt, and loafers were all black, giving it a simpler, more pronounced appearance. It matched Kaga-Tsuchi's waist length black hair quite well.

The only bits of color were the silver pendant with the character for fire around her neck and the green bandana tied into the girl's hair like a ribbon, marking her as a member of Verdict in a more elegant way than most of the other delinquents managed to achieve.

Elegant was indeed a good way to describe Kaga-Tsuchi in general. Every movement she made had a noble air about it that spoke of a high-class traditional upbringing.

Her feminine aura, delicate frame, graceful appearance, and constantly calm, stoic expression made it difficult to imagine that she could ever be a delinquent. Even as she stood amongst the other members of Verdict fighting with the best of them it was so hard to believe that she was a warrior instead of a damsel.

However Kaga-Tsuchi was perhaps the greatest weapon Kuroko had in her arsenal. The girl was a level four telepath who could read minds and memories as if they were open books. She was the best gatherer of intelligence that Kuroko could possibly hope for, and she had gotten Kuroko and the rest of Verdict out of trouble too many times to count.

She was also the only person Kuroko could trust to tell her the truth, always and unconditionally. Considering her position as the person who informed Kuroko of misdeeds within Verdict, as well as gathering information from those outside of Verdict, this trait was invaluable. Kuroko knew Kaga-Tsuchi would never lie in order to get someone else in trouble.

Of course, this was a double-edged sword. If Kuroko knew through Kaga-Tsuchi the thoughts of her underlings and yet banned the telepath from reading her own thoughts, then she would be a hypocrite of immense magnitude.

If she expected to know the thoughts of her underlings, then she had to be willing to let them know her own thoughts if they so wished. So Kuroko had never banned Kaga-Tsuchi from reading her mind and in fact knew she did so constantly.

Even now the telepath was in her head, finding out the reason that Kuroko was drumming the armrests of her chair in an act that had little to do with her natural impatience at Fujin's late arrival.

However, Kaga-Tsuchi was completely silent, leaving the tap-tap-tep-tap to echo around the faux courtroom.

* * *

It was just at the "tep" stage of the auburn haired girl's 782nd drumming (Kuroko found counting the times she did it helped keep her mind focused) that Fujin burst into the room, carrying a few sheets of paper in his hands.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized as he hopped over the bar and sat down on the defendants table, a far more blocky affair made by mortaring together discarded chunks of asphalt and concrete in a way that looked surprisingly good and professional for such a rough job.

"I got the reports," Fujin said, holding the pieces of paper aloft. "With the Aqua Rectangles gone we should figure out the next gang we need to focus on." It had been six days since the fight in the construction yard and four days since the cleanup of the Aqua Rectangles had been completely finished.

They had waited to see if the gang reformed, as they sometimes did, but there seemed to be no sign of such a thing. Many of the former members had either joined other gangs (including the five that had joined Verdict, three of whom were still around), gone colorless (meaning they had either become a delinquent unconnected with a gang or gone straight), or been arrested.

Now it was time for Verdict to move their attention to another gang. The papers that Fujin held were crime reports and gang movements, demonstrating why Kuroko's other lieutenant was easily the second greatest weapon in her arsenal.

The connections he had within the underworld and beyond allowed him to gather data with a speed and accuracy that few other people could match. And his combat abilities among Verdict were only surpassed by Kuroko herself.

"The White Marks have seen an increase in members and have also expanded their territory," Fujin read off.

"Those are the petty vandals who do all that graffiti in the lower town right?" Kuroko asked. She shook her head and waved dismissively. "Leave them. I have no issue with graffiti. If anything, it is a good, creative outlet for their delinquency. When they move onto bigger acts of vandalism, like arson, then we might step in, but for now we should just leave them for Judgment to take care of."

Had Kuroko still been in Judgment she undoubtedly would have been a lot less lenient on any sort of crime, especially vandalism which she had often had to clean up. As a delinquent however, she had learned that not all crimes were equal and some should simply be forgiven and forgotten. Not to mention the unforgivable hypocrisy of condemning something Kuroko herself did with such regularity.

Fujin bowed his head briefly in acknowledgement. "There were rumors of a subgroup of Skill Out attempting to form a prostitution ring, but it seems to have been settled internally."

Kuroko nodded. While Skill Out was hardly as strict or organized as Verdict, the teleporter knew that Komaba ran a tight ship and kept most of his gang out of the extremely distasteful crimes like prostitution, something he seemed especially against.

In fact, the only time Kuroko had met him other than during their fight had been when she had been hunting down the "Red Lights", a gang which had many prostitution rings. The two had actually worked together for a short while to defeat the gang.

"The Chrome Spinners seem to have been taking out several security and cleaning robots recently," Fujin continued. He glanced up and frowned slightly when he saw a look of confusion on Kuroko's face. "Those are the mechanics. They're mostly harmless. Their biggest thefts are from the junkyard, stealing broken cars and things like that then fixing them up and selling them. There are some incidents of them taking apart functioning cars or other machines, but they don't do it often and are pretty harmless overall... until this of course."

"Find out why they're doing this. If they have a new leader then it might be an issue. Plenty of "harmless" gangs become dangerous after a change in leadership," Kuroko said, "If that's the case, we might intervene, but if there's another reason we might just be able to solve this diplomatically."

Sometimes a five minute conversation could stop more crime than five days of punching. It was not Kuroko's favorite solution, granted. She prefered the punching, but she'd learned that it was not always the best course of action if one wished to spare oneself from constant and severe injury.

Fujin bowed his head again in acknowledgment as he read through several other sheets of information about the various gangs. "The Silver Dragons have recently gotten an influx of new members and have increased criminal activity drastically. Several reports of harassment, assault, and theft." The teen said, deciding to leave it there for Aneki's own good.

Kaga-Tsuchi was not quite so willing to lie by omission as the other lieutenant. "What Fujin did not intend to mention, due to Aneki's squeamishness on the subject, is the incident in which three members of the Silver Dragon gang were arrested attempting to rob a bank."

Kuroko's eyebrows knit together as she looked disapprovingly at Fujin. "Do not attempt to conceal those things from me." She said. Her tone held anger in it, but it was not directed at Fujin. "The Silver Dragons will be our next target." She decided. Due to the incident with Uiharu, Kuroko loathed bank robbers more than anything else, and robbing a bank was the best way to ensure that Verdict would find you and beat you to a pulp.

* * *

Fujin nodded, then looked at Kuroko. His eyes glinted with concern. "Are you alright, Aneki?" he asked. He couldn't read her mind, but he had known Kuroko for several months and he knew she usually got a lot more angry than this when it came to bank robbers.

Normally informing her that somebody had committed that particular crime would be met with a demand to know who and where they were before the teleporter stormed off to deal with them on her own.

"No," Kuroko answered, knowing if she did not than Kaga-Tsuchi would answer for her, and probably give way more information than necessary. She took a deep breath and rubbed her temples with her fingers. "Fujin... I need you to do me a favor..." she began.

"What is it, Aneki?" the teen answered immediately. His loyalty was almost unsurpassed. He would probably take a bullet for Kuroko if such a thing were necessary.

"Kiss me." the teleporter demanded. It had been five days since she had kissed Misaka, and the incident had yet to leave her mind. She was lucky that her gang had been on cooldown because she could not focus on it at all, something that had never happened before. Normally when Kuroko was in the middle of work with Verdict, that was all she thought about. That something could distract her so thoroughly was deeply upsetting.

"What?!" Fujin asked, absolutely positive he heard Kuroko wrong.

"Aneki believes that she is homosexual because she was excited when she kissed another woman, so she wishes to kiss a man to see if that excites her the same way," Kaga-Tsuchi helpfully supplied.

Indeed, that was the heart of the problem. Five days ago, after the kiss, Kuroko had admitted that she loved Misaka, but that had been in the heat of the moment and once Kuroko had gotten back to her same old self she was as eager to find an alternate explanation as before.

She could no longer completely claim that she did not feel any sort of infatuation for the electro master, but that didn't necessarily mean that it was love. Admiration, lust, a fleeting crush; there were a dozen things it could be other than love. Kuroko had spent the past five days and nights trying to work out which of them it was.

Unfortunately, so far she had come up blank, unable to find any other sort of explanation. She didn't think it was a crush. She'd had crushes before on both girls and boys, such as back when she was in Judgment training. She had fallen for one of the male teachers at the academy, though that had passed within a few days when she saw a somewhat disappointing side of him during one of the classes. She had also developed a crush on Konori-senpai shortly after joining branch 177 with her, but that had quickly been replaced by a more professional bond.

But even given her extremely limited experience with crushes, she knew that they felt so different from what she was now feeling that she doubted it was the same.

It certainly wasn't admiration. She admired countless people far more than she admired Misaka, and none of it caused these sort of feelings. Not even Konori-senpai, who Kuroko had and still did admire more than almost anyone else in the world, caused anywhere close to the same feeling that Misaka did.

The lust explanation was almost scarier than love. Kuroko could hardly deny the excitement that the thought or sight of Misaka's body made her feel. But she had no idea why she felt that way.

Was she homosexual after all? But the session with Uiharu hadn't stirred up anything that she didn't feel just hanging out with Uiharu as a friend. And it wasn't just that the flower-headed girl wasn't her type.

Even women who were considered the pinnacle of sexual beauty,like the models in the lingerie catalogs Kuroko subscribed to, failed to cause more than a twinge of excitement. Attractive males could cause the same bit of excitement-though obviously she tried to convince herself that the men caused considerably more arousal-as the females caused.

But whether it was an attractive male or an attractive female she was looking at, it was nothing compared to what Kuroko felt around Misaka. And she knew it wasn't just because the electro master had a boyish look.

Kuroko was even attracted to the traits of Misaka which were decidedly feminine, like her delicious yet subtle curves and her delicate features, which on other women didn't serve to excite her at all but on Misaka made Kuroko, literally at times, drool with desire.

Kuroko knew the biggest problem was a matter of experience. She hadn't experienced love or attraction enough to be able to tell what it was at a glance. Her experimentation with Uiharu had given her some experience but it was hardly a big enough pool to tell anything. She needed more, including the feeling of kissing a boy.

Unfortunately, it was Fujin who she felt safest with-at least when it came to males-so it was him she chose to kiss. He was understandably opposed, but before he could voice his protests Kuroko had appeared before him, touching his lips with her own for maybe half a second before pushing away.

"No." Kuroko effect of her kiss with Misaka had been instantaneous and drastic, causing her body to explode with pleasure. The kiss with Fujin failed to cause even a twinge. She then teleported over to Kaga-Tsuchi, repeated the procedure and again, pushed her away after half a second.

"Ugggh, that didn't work... maybe it was something else. Maybe it was her power. That's it! I'm sure any other electro master would give the same feeling. I just need to find another electro master," Kuroko tried to reason.

"Aneki, I don't think going around kissing a whole bunch of people is a good solution to this problem. In fact... I don't actually see how this is a problem at all." Fujin said, trying to calm her down. "There isn't anything wrong with being a lesbian."

"That isn't the problem. The problem is I don't know what I am. I've never felt anything like this before and the fact that the person I feel it towards is a woman, and especially that particular woman..." Kuroko sighed as she leaned against the Judge's bench made from a couple of broken vending machines stacked on top of each other and covered in plywood that sat in front of her chair.

"W-well... umm..." Fujin stammered, not entirely sure what to do. Kuroko was his Aneki. Even though she was younger than he was he still treated her like an older sister. It was not typically the older sister that asked the younger ones for advice.

The most he could do was give the same advice he would give a friend. Unfortunately, his friends were his age so it might not have been the most appropriate. "I suppose sexuality depends on whether or not you wanna screw this person."

He wached Kuroko's face turned a deep crimson. But there was something even more surprising. "Holy crap, Kaga-Tsuchi did you just blush?" he asked, his mouth hanging open in surprise, "I didn't think you were that sheltered."

"It was not your question," Kaga-Tsuchi told Fujin, her voice as stoic and emotionless as ever despite the pink tinge to her cheeks. "Aneki simply had a particularly vivid and visceral image in her mind. I think it is safe to say that Aneki would indeed like to "screw" this person, as you have put it."

Fujin's gaping stare turned to Kuroko, who had her face in her hands. What kind of image could have been enough to make Kaga-Tsuchi blush?

"However, I disagree with the premise of your statement Fujin," the telepath continued. "While I lack any hands on experience due to my emotions and memories having been purged, my ability allows me to gather a great deal of information from all sorts of people. The desire to have sex with someone is not enough of a clue to one's sexuality that it can be taken as proof on its own. The true issue that has Aneki so worried isn't even about her sexuality. She simply wants to know whether or not she is in love, a complex emotion with many different symptoms which may include sexual attraction but is hardly limited to such. There are numerous other factors to consider."

"Do I have these other factors, Kaga-Tsuchi?" Kuroko asked. She could lie to herself as much as she wanted, but Kaga-Tsuchi could cut past the lies and tell her the truth of how she felt.

"Perhaps. Love is different for everyone and there are many different types of love. But you already know this," Kaga-Tsuchi explained. "What you really want to know is what you should do."

Kuroko nodded, "Yeah..."

"Well, why don't you follow your own advice?" Fujin began, "When Ai came to ask you about

that boy she had a crush on you suggested she follow her heart. Just follow your own."

Kuroko laughed. "You know, I love my ability. Teleportation used to suit me so well. I used to be someone who went after anything their heart desired, ignoring any obstacles in my path and just trying to get there as fast as possible. Teleportation allowed me to do exactly that. If I wanted something, I could take it instantly, no matter what stood in my way. Maybe if Uiharu hadn't gotten hurt that day in the bank and I had kept being like that then I wouldn't be having this problem. I'd probably go after Misaka-san in a heartbeat." The teleporter sighed. "But it's not like that anymore... Now I know the consequences of ignoring all those obstacles. I know the consequences of going after something immediately. I have to be a lot more cautious than I used to be. The unknown used to be a challenge, something to explore and pursue, now the unknown is dangerous, something to be avoided. Sure I'm still reckless, but a lot less so than before. Following my heart... I don't know if I can even still do it like I use to."

"Giving up before you try... that's hardly like you, Aneki," Fujin said, sounding disappointed. "The Aneki I know would give it everything she had and never call it quits."

Aneki. The word rang in Kuroko's ear every time Fujin said it. "Maybe you're right..." She sighed. "I think I know what to do now," she said before disappearing.

* * *

Kuroko headed back to the dorms. Once she arrived she immediately went into her room and began reading through the school's rulebook as she began to form a plan. She spent the entire rest of the day and night thinking it over.

After school the next day she immediately returned to her dorm and began looking for the Dorm Mistress, soon finding her within her office. She knocked on the doorway to make her presence known. The woman turned to look at her, a mix of surprise and suspicion on her face, though the latter was hardly new. "What do you need, Shirai?"

"I would like to request a room transfer. I would like to move into room 208 with Misaka Mikoto." Kuroko explained politely. "I have read through the rules and I have found out that it is possible to do so if I fill in the appropriate paperwork and get the signed consent of both current residents."

"Why do you wish to change rooms?" the Dorm Mistress asked, both her surprise and suspicion skyrocketing at this statement.

"I don't know why but... Misaka-san makes me feel... good, in a way that nobody else does. It's scary not knowing, but I know I can never solve this problem by running away from it. So I intend to confront it head on. I know she might reject me. She probably will... It's a little scary to think about it, but I think I would do something about it and be rejected, then not do anything at all..." Kuroko explained. That was the thing about this plan. It was all or nothing. She would lay herself completely bare for Misaka and wait to see if the electro master accepted her or kicked her to the curb.

The Dorm Mistress searched the teleporter's face and eyes but she couldn't see even a hint of an ulterior motive. She seemed more frightened by what she was about to do than she had ever been at the Dorm Mistress's presence.

After half a minute of examination the woman finally sighed and opened a drawer in her desk, searching through it for a file. She drew several sheets of paper from the file and handed them to Kuroko. "There is the paperwork. If either signature is made under duress then it will be considered invalid."

Kuroko shook her head as she took the papers. "Misaka-san is not scared of me, and her roommate is constantly harassed, bullied, and ostracized by Misaka-san's fanclub simply because of her living arrangements. It will not take any coercion on my part to convince her to change under circumstances like those."

The Dorm Mistress turned back to her desk and continued working with a sigh. "Get those back to me as soon as possible."

Kuroko nodded and left, going to her room to fill out the paperwork she could do on her own. Then she found Misaka's current roommate and got her to fill out the section she needed to fill out.

As expected the other girl was all too eager at the prospect of moving out. For the past year and a half living in the same room with the so called Ace of Tokiwadai had caused her nothing but trouble from the level five's rabid fan club. It would be nice to see someone else bear the burden for a while. Not that the fan club would likely mess with the infamous Yankee-Ojou in the first place.

Once that was done, all she needed to do was get Misaka's signature. She went to room 208, opening the door using the spare key she had gotten off Misaka's roommate. She glanced around the room which hopefully would be her future living space, and sat on one of the beds. Then she began waiting for Misaka to return.

* * *

The girl in question was currently sitting on a bench at the usual park. She glanced at her phone, looking at the time.

'_She isn't coming today either is she?' _Misaka decided with a sigh. Though the electro master had a short fuse, she cooled down quickly. Now that the anger from the kiss had mostly faded she couldn't help but be worried about Kuroko.

For the past month she had never gone more than two days in a row without seeing the teleporter. '_Maybe I was a little too harsh on her... Did I really need to be so mean and shock her so badly?'_

Then she frowned. '_Of course I did. After all, she did such a perverted thing to me... Kissing me out of the blue like that. What the hell was she thinking?'_ Indeed, this question had been pressing on her mind more than anything else.

It had been such a random, out of the blue act that Misaka still wasn't entirely sure that she hadn't just dreamed the whole thing. Of course, dreaming something like that would be a bigger problem than it actually happening.

After all if she had dreamed it then it would mean she longed for the teleporter to kiss her, which certainly wasn't the case. If Misaka were honest with herself she had enjoyed the kiss-Kuroko was a surprisingly good kisser for someone her age, and the way the teleporters body had pressed against her still made the electro master's heart race-but Misaka was incapable of being honest with herself when it came to these things.

So she had convinced herself that it had happened and that she had hated it.

'_Kuroko and I have been friends for a while now, but she only seems to be interested in fighting. I thought I was the only one who actually considered us friends, then she suddenly goes and kisses me?'_ Misaka sighed again before saying, out loud this time, "What the hell is this all about?"

Misaka stood up. "She's not coming today. No point in waiting around." Suddenly she blushed. "N-not that I was waiting for her." She stammered in her own defense, despite there being no one to hear it.

She shook her head furiously and made for her dorm. It was still a couple hours until curfew, but somehow things just weren't very exciting today, or for the past five days... though it was of course completely unrelated to the fact that she hadn't seen the teleporter for that long, a fact she was grateful for.

She headed back to the dorm, went up the stairs to the left, and went down the hallway until she reached her room. She opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind her.

* * *

Suddenly, a familiar voice reached her ears. "Misaka Mikoto." It said from within the room. The electro master glanced up to see the teleporter sitting on her bed, staring at her with an oddly serious air about her. Kuroko had always been a serious person, but Misaka had never seen that look of complete determination on her face before.

"Didn't I tell you that I didn't want to see you anymore?" Misaka huffed. Though her irritation stemmed not from the girl's current presence, something that made her surprisingly happy, but rather from the fact that it had taken so long for her to show her face.

"You didn't mean it," the teleporter stated matter-of-factly, irking Misaka further. It was true that she hadn't meant it, but the teleporter stating it as if it was obvious was a bit annoying.

"What are you doing in my room?" the electro master demanded.

"I... I wanted to ask you something. But first I think we need to have a talk. I think you should know a bit more about what I am, and why I am that way. It'll help you understand what exactly I'll be asking of you as well..." Kuroko said. "You should probably sit down, this will take a while..."

"Get off my bed then." Misaka ordered, though curiosity was now eating away at her mind like acid through metal, seamlessly replacing any anger she was feeling.

Kuroko obliged, standing up, taking a single step to close the distance between the two beds, and sitting down on the other bed instead. Misaka then took a seat where Kuroko had been sitting on her own bed, looking at the teleporter with an intense gaze that dripped with curiosity.

Kuroko took a deep breath, preparing her heart and her words. "I... wasn't always a delinquent. In fact, I used to be a rising star of Judgment, graduating from the training academy at the top of my class at a younger age than most of the others were. But something happened several months ago that destroyed my faith in Judgment."

Kuroko began to tell Misaka the story of Uiharu and the bank robbery. The electro master listened with rapt attention as Kuroko struggled to get the words out.

"After that," the younger said once she had finished the story, "I decided to take justice into my own hands. I became Verdict, and at the time I was the entirety of it. It was my personal symbol, and I would beat up all sorts of people in its name. I can see now that it was foolish and misguided, but at the time it made perfect sense. I don't think I ever would have stopped doing it if it hadn't been for that month..."

* * *

It had been about a month since Kuroko had started her quest for vengeance. The sky above her was grey with dense clouds that blocked out any light, not that there was any to be found in this alley, draped with the shadows of the buildings to either side and steeped with sin and blood.

Kuroko sat against a wall, breathing heavily and shivering slightly in the winter cold despite her overheated, sweat-drenched body. Seven unconscious thugs were strewn about in front of her, the losers of her most recent fight. The teleporter's eyes landed on the one who laid directly in front of her, seeing the pool of blood around his head caused by the broken nose she had given him.

She glanced at her hands, curled into fists as they rested on top of her knees. The athletic tape was stained with blood along with her grey sweatpants and the arms of her pink coat. She frowned as she noticed a tear along the surface of her coat, near the elbow. Someone had slashed at her with a knife and damaged the jacket.

Uiharu had given it to her yesterday in order to keep her warm during her quest, and seeing it damaged this soon was upsetting. It upset Kuroko even more than the numerous injuries that covered her own body, all the cuts and bruises, including a nasty looking black eye.

Her thoughts of Uiharu were suddenly interrupted by a cry of pain from down the alley. Kuroko jerked her head in the direction of the cry and saw a tall teen with dyed blond hair gelled back in the style of a hedgehog step on the wrist of one of the thugs she had beaten up. Kuroko's eyes saw the gleam of metal in the downed thug's hand as a small pistol crossed the path of one of the few slivers of light that penetrated this dark hellhole.

The thug let go of the gun and the teen kicked it away. "You should be more careful of people who seem to be down for the count," he said to her as he stepped forward. He wore loose fitting faded black sweatpants and a thick blue winter coat that seemed to have seen a few too many winters already if the patches of cloth were any indication. The right leg of his sweatpants was rolled up to reveal a purple bandana wound around the ankle.

Kuroko furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. This person seemed to be addressing her, but she could not fathom the reason. He looked to be a delinquent, and yet he had just helped her... why? "Are you talking to me? Who are you?" she asked, figuring that was a good a place as any to start.

The teen bowed low, revealing a purple sports bag on his back. "The name is Fujin, former leader of the gang the "Purple Saints". You beat me and my gang up pretty bad a couple of weeks ago."

Kuroko vaguely remembered fighting people with purple bandanas. They had caused some pretty significant damage to her body, despite her victory over them in the end. The day after she had fought their boss had been the only day where she had been forced to refrain from fighting to recover from her injuries. The teleporter sighed, "You want a rematch I'm guessing?" She asked with a glare towards this Fujin person.

The teen surprised her when he shook his head. "At first I did. At first I was eager to crush the gang who had beaten me. But when I used my contacts to find out more about this mystery gang with green bandanas and a teleporter as a member I found out that it wasn't a gang at all... just a lone little girl going after delinquents. That kind of pissed me off, I don't like arrogant people who go around fighting just to prove how tough they are."

"That is not why I fight!" Kuroko yelled at him, her glare raising the temperature of the alley a few degrees with its burning intensity.

"I know," Fujin confirmed. "After that, I went out hunting for you. But the first time I saw you after that you had just rescued a couple of girls from the Navy piqued my curiosity, so I decided to follow you around a bit more, and I saw you kept doing things like that. Generally acting more like a member of Judgment than any sort of delinquent."

"I'm not a delinquent, but I'm not Judgment either. I fight for the justice that Judgment fails to deliver," she said, standing up. "Protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty in ways that Judgment is too restricted by rules and regulations to do. And if you're the leader of a gang then I'll do the same to you, for I am Verdict, and my verdict is guilty." She drew back her fist, ready to fight.

But Fujin just shook his head again. "Former leader," he corrected as he grabbed the purple bandana and took it off of his ankle before holding it out to her. Out of curiosity, she cautiously took it from him and watched as he drew a green cloth from out of his pocket and tied it around the ankle where the other one had been. "From this day on I am no longer Fujin, leader of the Purple Saints. I am Fujin of Verdict. I follow your commands, Aneki."

Kuroko was surprised for a moment, then her brows knitted together in a look of suspicion as she frowned at this delinquent who knelt in front of her, bowing his head in subservience. "My quest is one of justice, why in the world would a delinquent wish to be a part of it? And why in the world do you think I would allow it?"

"Why do I want to be part of it?" Fujin repeated. "I am a Child Error, born in this city and raised in its slums. Fighting has always been a part of my life. At first it was fighting for the sake of survival, but ever since I joined my first gang it's been fighting for the sake of fighting. Those are the only two kinds I'd ever seen. Until I met you, Aneki. You fight for a purpose beyond yourself. Even in this dark and sullied place you shine with a pure light. I want to be a part of that light, Aneki."

Kuroko relaxed her muscles and sighed. "That's right... I shine with a pure light while everything else here is tainted." She frowned at Fujin. "Including you. I will not allow you to taint my justice with your presence. I am not your Aneki and I never will be," she said as she disappeared.

* * *

"Fortunately, Fujin is a little too much like me for something like that to work. Despite my harsh words, he still followed me around..."

* * *

The sky was dark despite how early it was, a true sign that Academy City was in the dead of winter. The only two functioning lamps on this street cast barely enough light for an owl to be able to see. This meant it was only the light of the full moon that illuminated the eleven figures with black bandanas and dull colored hoodies that surrounded the girl with the green neckerchief, pink coat, and red woolen hat (a gift from Konori-senpai), who stood in the middle of the street. Her foot was on the neck of another teen with a black bandana as she ground the face of a second one into the pavement with her shoe. Her gaze at the other members of this gang dared them to attack.

With a glance at their gang mates, the eleven people charged at this girl. She disappeared just before the first blows landed, causing a fair bit of collateral damage as fists sent flying towards this now missing target found their fellow delinquents instead.

Kuroko appeared behind another of these delinquents, sweeping his feet out from under him with a low kick. Then she stepped forward, still ducked low, and sprang upwards, delivering a powerful uppercut to a delinquent who turned around at just the wrong time, catching the strong blow directly on the chin. Then she jerked her arm right, elbowing another of the thugs right in the solar plexus.

Unfortunately, her arm was caught by another of the delinquents, a pyrokineticist. She lit her hand on fire with her ability, burning Kuroko's skin underneath the athletic tape. The teleporter gave a grunt of pain as she began to kick her. However, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye as another of the delinquents wound up for a punch. She redirected her kick for his chest, knocking him back.

This left her open for the pyrokineticist to deliver his own punch. He managed to pulled his fist back before a familiar voice cut through the noise of the fray.

"Duck!".

Kuroko ducked her head just in time to avoid a foot with a green bandana tied around its ankle as it instead collided with the chest of the pyrokineticist, knocking him back with a blast of concentrated force caused by Fujin's ability.

With the grip around her wrist gone Kuroko took advantage of her low position to deliver a punch into one of the men's groin, causing him to instantly collapse as a low kick to the shin of another delinquent brought her to the ground as well.

Fujin stepped forward, dispatching two more with a kick to the head and a knee to the chest respectively, as Kuroko used a judo throw to toss another delinquent into one of the remaining two.

The final delinquent was knocked out as Kuroko and Fujin kicked him in the chest at the same time.

"Nine and a half out of thirteen. Nice job, Aneki, but can't you leave a few for me as well sometime?" Fujin chuckled.

"I am not your Aneki, and I don't intend to leave you any at all. I don't want you here," she repeated for what must have been the twelfth time in the two weeks since he had pledged himself to her.

What was with this persistent delinquent? Hadn't she told him multiple times that she did not want his help? Why did he insist on following her around and giving it if she didn't want it? She would have just beat him up, but though she knew he was a self-professed delinquent, she hadn't seen him do anything wrong so could not justify beating him up in the name of justice.

Fujin might have been about to reply when a thump rang out around the now silent street. Then voices began echoing from a nearby alley.

"Well we brought her here, now what do we do?" one voice said.

"I don't know... dump her in the river? Leave her for the dogs? No matter what we do a girl like this won't last long in a place like this," another replied.

Kuroko ran towards these highly suspicious voices, quickly arriving at their source. She saw two big, burly guys stood in front of a large bag which had been unzipped to show the face and torso of a girl, who seemed to be either unconscious or dead. Kuroko continued sprinting, delivering a powerful running punch into the back of one of the thugs before tossing him aside and grabbing the collar of the other thug's jacket. A kick to the shin was enough to unbalance him, letting her throw him to the ground where a kick to the head ensured he stayed for a while.

With those two dealt with, she knelt down to the bag. She unzipped it, extracting the girl and propping her up against the wall before checking her for a pulse. She was relieved when she felt the powerful heartbeat resonating in her jugular. She began to shake the girl slightly.

"Wake up," Kuroko said loudly, hoping that the girl would respond. She began to rouse just as Fujin arrived asking, "What's going on, Aneki?"

The girl opened her oddly lifeless storm cloud grey eyes, glancing at Kuroko, then at Fujin, then back to Kuroko.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," Kuroko said comfortingly, despite not seeing even a hint of fear in the other girl's eyes. "Are you alright?"

"I am fine, Aneki," the girl responded, believing that that was Kuroko's name. Her words were spoken without a hint of emotion, as if by a zombie or robot, though the pulse (and the fact that they lived in a world without such fantastic creatures as that) eliminated the first of those possibilities.

Kuroko's eye twitched in irritation at the use of Fujin's nickname for her from this complete stranger while Fujin chuckled at the same."My name is Shirai Kuroko. What is yours?"

"I do not know. I cannot seem to remember anything before waking up. Existence of memory from the past thirty seconds suggests that either my memory was wiped or a problem in my brain with the formation of long term memories. Intact knowledge, which relies on memory such as language and neurology, suggests that the former is more likely." She spoke in a detached voice, as if she were talking about something that had happened to someone else.

Kuroko frowned as she looked the girl up and down, noting the black clothes and black hair that blended into the darkness, making her pale face seem to glow all the brighter in comparison. "That's the uniform of Iwatodai middle school." She recognized. "Maybe if I bring you to your dorms someone will have heard of you." Kuroko got her phone out in order to search for the address of Iwatodai's dorms and was annoyed to see that it was out of batteries.

The teleporter briefly ran through her options, before sighing and holding her hand out. "I guess I can bring you to Uiharu's. She'll be able to find out who you are and where you live. Grab on and I'll teleport us there."

The girl shook her head. "Your teleportation ability would be strained already if you were to attempt to teleport both yourself and me, and with the pain from your burn throwing off your focus it would be dangerously inaccurate, Aneki," she explained. "It would be better to go with Fujin's plan to carry me on his back as you guide the way."

"Wha- how did you know what I was thinking?" the other two began almost simultaneously.

"My ESPer ability appears to be some form of mind reading," the girl answered with the same emotionless voice as she stood up, her legs wobbling and unsure.

Kuroko frowned. "And if you go to Iwatodai then it must be level three or higher..." Kuroko attempted to shield her mind using meditation like she had been taught in Judgment training. "But you are right I suppose. I shouldn't put you in danger like that. Fujin, if you wouldn't mind could you carry... We should think of a name for you," Kuroko decided as she looked at the girl again.

A silver pendant caught her eye. "火. Fire... Well until we find out your real name how about we call you Kaga-Tsuchi." She said.

Kaga-Tsuchi was the name of the Kami of Fire. It wasn't exactly a girl's name, but it matched with Fujin, the Kami of Wind, and would only be a temporary name anyway.

The newly named girl nodded. "Then I will be Kaga-Tsuchi. Thank you for the name, Aneki."

"It's," Kuroko began, her voice almost a growl before she stopped and facepalmed. THen she sighed in resignation, "oh never mind. Fujin, could you please carry her? We don't want to get into any fights along the way so we'll stick to the rooftops," she ordered.

"Yes, Aneki," Fujin answered with a nod as he stepped forward to pick the girl up.

"And remember, she's a lady so be a gentleman and do not manhandle her," Kuroko warned, giving him instruction on how he should do it considering he was a slumdog born and bred and things like that were surely beyond his knowledge.

Fujin nodded again, making sure to pick Kaga-Tsuchi carefully according to Aneki's instructions.

After that, Kuroko led the pair through the night air until they had reached Uiharu's apartment.

* * *

"Uiharu found out her real name was Hiko Iwatodai, granddaughter of the current dean of that school," Kuroko told Misaka. "I brought her back to her dorms but the next day she came to the slums again to find me. She had a green bandana tied in her hair like a ribbon. She was calling herself Kaga-Tsuchi, calling me Aneki, and saying she wanted to be part of Verdict as well. I didn't want to accept her, but I couldn't refuse her like I did Fujin, so I sort of started to ignore both of them. I didn't encourage their presence but I didn't protest it either. They became my lieutenants and that was the true start of Verdict as a gang, rather than my personal symbol of justice."

"From there it grew surprisingly quickly. Delinquents are attracted to the strong and I had proven and continued to prove just how strong I am. In a single week it grew from just us three to seven people."

"I tolerated their company, but I did not tolerate their activity. I still did not see myself as a delinquent, nor would I allow Verdict to become just another gang of thugs and thieves. It was a group dedicated to justice, and a group like that has no tolerance for criminals among their ranks."

"The first time I caught someone smoking I knew I had to lay down some rules. No drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes, no illegal substances whatsoever. Pretty much any illegal action would be met with harsh and swift punishment," Kuroko explained. Then she sighed. "Admittedly, I thought that would be the end of Verdict as a gang. I thought, like most people, that delinquents despised any type of rules that were imposed on them. No one would join such a strict gang."

"But it seems I was wrong. You see, while most people consider delinquents rebels who hate all sorts of authority and rules, in actuality most of them crave rules and structure. The lack of parental guidance that they would have gotten outside Academy City fosters all sorts of rebel behavior, not because they despise rules, but because they actually wanted someone to rein them in. People, especially kids, want an authority figure to obey and follow," Kuroko said.

"One of those four that had joined left, but the other three stayed. In fact, one wanted to be part of Verdict so badly that he was willing to quit the drugs he had become addicted to cold turkey."

"Quitting a drug as hardcore as the one he was on cold turkey is quite a dangerous thing, so I told him to go to a rehab facility instead. However, he didn't have that kind of money. Most of the people in Verdict weren't even as close to as rich as me and Kaga-Tsuchi. Some people, like Fujin, had no money of their own at all. That was the reason so many of them turned to delinquency and crime, and that is simply so they could get enough money to survive."

"I was tempted to use my own money to send him, but Fujin had another idea. Apparently he had been looting the thugs who we had beat up and using that money to keep himself fed, in clothes, and even apply to a new, better school. At first I was angry that he had done this, but in the end all he was doing was stealing from thieves who probably would have used it to buy drugs or prostitutes. So he donated a few of the cash cards he had obtained and, with a bit of my own money, we had enough to get the guy enrolled into rehab."

"This actually happens quite a lot. We get quite a bit of money from the gangs we defeat. That money is distributed among the members of Verdict, excluding Kaga-Tsuchi, myself, and a few others who have enough money to live comfortably, to allow them to have better lives."

"Because of this support and the other factors, Verdict quickly grew even larger. The next month and a half passed by in the blink of an eye and the ranks grew from six people to twenty-five." Kuroko sighed. "And I was their leader. I was their Aneki."

"I hated that at the time. At the time, all that Aneki meant to me was the term a group of delinquents would call the Sukeban who led their gang. It was a term that was only ever applied to a delinquent, and I was not a delinquent. And yet, everywhere I turned it was 'Aneki this' and 'Aneki that'. I was sick of it. Until one day..."

* * *

Tap-tap-tep-tap, tap-tap-tep-tap. Kuroko's fingers drummed on the judge's chair she had recently been given by the guy she had sent to rehab all those weeks ago as a thank you present. At that time it was the only piece of furniture or decor in the large room that had become their de facto meeting place. The room was occupied by about nine members of Verdict including herself.

Most of the eight other people were off in various corners, sparring with each other or training their abilities. It was a lot less than usual, but that was mostly Kuroko's fault as she had pressured most of them to study for their exams which were rapidly approaching. She herself had been studying until a short while ago and was now taking a break.

Normally, she was one of those people who crammed a few days before the test, but Uiharu had reminded her of how difficult a school like Tokiwadai would be to enter. She had not been sure she wanted to join that school anymore, but she couldn't bear to disappoint Uiharu like that, nor did she want to shame her family name by graduating from anything but the best of schools. So she had been studying every day for the past couple weeks, often at Uiharu's house where the pair could help each other.

Uiharu had become a member of Judgment as well recently, so she had been receiving pressure from her not only to study, but also to give up on Verdict. Admittedly, she was starting to waver in her dedication to the gang, and was slightly tempted to give it up.

Then something happened which changed her mind. Aria, one of the members of Verdict, stumbled into the room, shoulders hunched and shaking. Kuroko immediately teleported over to her. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Aria looked at her for a second. Kuroko could see her eyes were wet with tears and red from crying. Her shoulders heaved with sobs as she burst into tears once again. She hugged Kuroko tightly and cried into the teleporter's shoulders.

The other occupants in the room turned to look at this disturbance, but Kuroko dismissed them with a wave of her hand. They nodded in understanding as they left the room, leaving Kuroko alone with the sobbing Aria.

* * *

"I spent the next half hour comforting her as she explained to me that her grandmother, who she loved very dearly, had died. I held her until she stopped crying and tried to make her feel better. At the end she smiled at me and said, 'Thank you, Aneki. I feel much better.'"

"It was only then that I realized I had been wrong the entire time. I had been wrong about everything. You see, Verdict wasn't just a group of delinquents... or rather it was, but it was also so much more. All the gangs are more than just gangs," Kuroko stated, looking down at her lap, her voice flushed with emotion. "Outside of this city family is something you're born into. But in here, people don't have parents or siblings that they're stuck with every day. In Academy City you're free to choose your own family, and that's what we do. Friends, peers, teachers, they become our family, and in the case of delinquents the gangs they form become their family."

"Most of these delinquents that I had grown to hate and condemn weren't bad people like I thought they were. Most of them had simply chosen the wrong family. In the same way that someone born to a parent who drinks is more likely to become an alcoholic, the people who these delinquents had chosen as their role model only modeled bad behavior."

"And that's when I realized the significance of the word Aneki. I realized that people didn't call me that just because I was the Sukeban of their gang... they called me that because they really did see me as their Aneki. I gave them support, I gave them order, I gave them purpose, and when they needed it I gave them acceptance and even love."

"It's a far more significant term than I could ever have imagined. It meant that out of all the 2.3 million people in this city, you are the one that that person can rely on most. Out of all the people they could choose to be your family, they chose you."

"I think maybe the reason it took me so long to figure out what it meant was because I never had anyone like that. I have friends and I have underlings, but I've never had someone who I could look up to, who I could feel comfortable with, who I could love." Kuroko looked deep into Misaka's eyes as she said the next part, "That is... until I met you. Now, for once I feel like there's someone who I can give every part of myself to, who I can love fully and unconditionally, and who I can trust with everything."

Kuroko stood up and clasped Misaka's hands in her own. "What I'm trying to ask here is... will you be my Aneki?" she asked, her tone and eyes reflecting just how serious this request was.

To Kuroko, Aneki wasn't a word that could be tossed around. It wasn't like the term Onee-sama that people at their school used for senpai that they admired. This was something altogether more important. Onee-sama was a compliment, Aneki was a duty.

For a moment, Misaka wondered if Kuroko hadn't suddenly become an electro master herself. There was a sudden unexplainable feeling of electricity between them, and the electro master's heart was beating so hard and fast it felt like there was a hummingbird bouncing around inside her chest.

Her skin heated up as a blush dyed her face and body a bright crimson. "Huh?" was the only word that managed to find its way out of her mouth.

"I'm not asking you to become a delinquent. I don't want to force you into that world. I don't want to force you into anything." That was the entire point of asking. Aneki was too significant to just drop on someone's lap without their consent.

It was a lot of responsibility being an Aneki, as Kuroko knew and had tried to inform Misaka. She wanted to give the electro master a chance to say no, even if the possibility of rejection frightened her more than anything else. "I just... I want to know if you'd be willing to accept this love of mine, to be someone I can trust, to be someone important to me."

Misaka pulled her hands out of Kuroko's grasp, more out of nervousness than any sort of disgust. She clasped her hands together and rubbed them with an odd feeling brewing in the pit of her stomach. "G-Geeze... why do you make it sound like a proposal?" she stammered. There was a strange warmth spreading inside her.

As a Level Five and an ojou-sama, Misaka had always been an object of admiration. A third of the first years called her Onee-sama out of respect and admiration. But she knew this was something greater than that. Kuroko didn't simply want to admire her from afar like the rest.

The prospect was scary. Despite all the admiration, or perhaps because of it, Misaka had always been a bit of a loner. Before Kuroko it had been years since she had last had a friend. Now, there was someone asking her if she would be the most important person in the world to them. Misaka could feel the weight of the responsibility, and it was daunting.

And yet... it was so exciting. To Misaka, who had been alone for so long, the idea of being someone's most important person was such a pleasant one. To be loved completely and unconditionally...

The electro master stood up. She was taller than Kuroko so she tilted her head down to look into the teleporter's eyes. There was fear and hesitation clawing at the edges, but her gaze radiated such determination that any fear or hesitation was easily overpowered. Misaka smiled at Kuroko. "Yes," she said simply. "I'll be your Aneki."

Kuroko's eyes widened slightly in surprise, then lit up with happiness as her mouth curled up in a smile. Then she stepped forward slightly, before leaning up and kissing Misaka.

The kiss was as deep and passionate as yesterday's had been. Again Misaka found her mind utterly paralyzed by the sudden act. This paralysis lasted about fifteen seconds before she recovered enough to push Kuroko away.

However, she hesitated. For a few seconds, she wondered if she should allow it, if this was what was supposed to happen. She hadn't had a friend in so long, and she had never been someone's Aneki. She wasn't really sure what she was supposed to do, and she was sort of enjoying the kiss.

Then Kuroko's tongue slid against Misaka's and she heard a moan rise from the younger girl's throat, echoing in her own mouth and Misaka decided that this was certainly not what they were supposed to be doing. Her embarrassment overtook her enjoyment for an instant and she pushed Kuroko away hard, hearing the thump as Kuroko stumbled backwards over the other bed and hit her head on the wall beside it.

"Are you ok?" Misaka asked, her worry surpassing her embarrassment for a second at the sound of the impact.

"I'm fine." Kuroko assured rubbing the back of her head with that same stupid smile over her face. "Feeling better than ever before, in fact."

The happiness that radiated from the other girl's voice and smile quickly cooled Misaka's anger over the kiss. Though she was still a bit miffed as she huffed, "What the hell was that for?"

"It was a show of my love for you." Kuroko informed her excitedly, her entire body tensed in restraint. "I'd do more but the rules don't allow us to have intercourse in the dorms and I'm too excited to teleport us to a love hotel."

"Inter-" Misaka repeated before going an even deeper shade of crimson. "What the hell?! Is that all you were after you sick perverted-"

"No," Kuroko said, the seriousness of her tone halting Misaka's angry rant. "I did this because I love you as an Aneki. I love you as a lover as well but I did not do this to get into your pants."

Misaka glared at Kuroko for a second, then her gaze softened. "What the hell," she sighed. "What the hell did I sign up for…?"

Kuroko walked over to the desk where she had left the room reassignment papers. "Right now the only thing I'd like you to sign is this. They're papers that will let me become your roommate."

"And why would you want to become my roommate? So you can kiss me more?" Misaka accused, her mouth still curled into that frown that didn't truly reach her eyes, which still sparkled with happiness from the prospect of having a new friend.

"Kissing you more would be a dream come true," Kuroko sighed dreamily, "but it's mostly so I can be closer to you, Aneki."

Misaka put on a show of huffing and hesitating but inevitably she snatched the papers and signed them. As she stared down at the papers she couldn't help but smile.

She was an Aneki now.

* * *

Author's Note: This is the first chapter of Aneki posted from outside of the hospital I've been stuck in the past couple weeks. I could write and post and everything in there so it wasn't too bad but it's still nice to be home.

This chapter also marks the end of the first "arc" and also the end of all the prewritten stuff I have. There will be a long break until I post the fifth chapter where I will be writing and posting my other stories instead (including a freshly painted and beta'ed Side Effects). If you're a fan of my other works that's probably a good thing, but if Aneki is the only story of mine to catch your interest then I'm sorry for your inevitable wait and can only promise you that it will probably be worth it, especially if you're a Saten fan because fifth chapter is where she gets introduced.

There is always a risk within your story when you include multiple elements. People who like the romance might not like the adventure and vice versa. This story is equally about Kuroko's interaction with her gang, her interaction with Uiharu and, later on, Saten, and her interaction with Misaka. So balancing how much space to dedicate to each of those interactions is a bit of a juggling act. I hope I did it well enough.


	5. Saten

"What the hell are you doing?" Misaka asked groggily, having just woken up to the strange sight of her new roommate contorted into an odd position on the floor while staring at her.

"Martial arts training," Kuroko responded easily, seamlessly switching into another position which Misaka was sure no ordinary human should be able to do.

"Martial arts training? I thought that was all about breaking boards and stuff," Misaka yawned.

"Strength and durability are only two aspects of martial arts, and certainly not the most important. Flexibility, balance, and perception are also key aspects and certainly are more important for female martial artists than the other two," Kuroko explained.

Misaka noted that Kuroko's speech patterns had changed yet again. They often did, switching between high class ojou-sama, to the rough and curt speech of a delinquent several times during a single conversation.

Even her pronouns would switch from the formal, high class "watakushi" to the informal and boyish "boku" within the same paragraph. Misaka had also heard her refer to herself in the third person when she was nervous, like yesterday during her story. Right now, though, as well as in a few of their more calm fights, she began to use a more archaic high class language and, oddly enough, the pronoun "sessha".

"I'll never understand you," Misaka sighed before burying her head in her pillow again.

"Good morning by the way," Kuroko said cheerily. Misaka could hear and feel the teleporter's smile without even having to look at her.

"Good morning," Misaka replied, sitting up again as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "when did you wake up?"

"Three hours ago at the usual time," she responded. Misaka glanced at the clock and saw that it was barely seven. That meant she had been waking up at four all this time? Crazy person...

"Have you been staring at me that entire time?" Misaka asked accusingly.

"It's only natural to stare at something so beautiful," the teleporter purred seductively, "watching your chest gently heave excites me s-" Kuroko was cut off by a bolt of lightning that struck her square in the face, constricting her jaw muscles hard and fast enough for the clash of teeth to be audible.

It took the shiver of disgust that had erupted along Misaka's body a few more seconds to fully die down. "Fucking creep," Misaka seethed.

Kuroko recovered in her usual inhumanly quick manner and continued so non-chalantly that it was hard to believe she had just taken a lightning strike to the face. "It is odd though. Uiharu's sleeping face used to relax me; watching her was a perfect accompaniment to a calm morning workout. Yours, however, excites me, making it a lot harder for me to concentrate."

"Then here's a thought... don't stare at me when I'm asleep, you freak," Misaka spat out. For a second she wondered if Kuroko even understood just how disturbing and creepy her behavior was. Then she looked at the other girl's face and realized that it was obvious that she did not. Misaka sighed once more, "Uiharu's your friend right? The one that got hurt in the bank?" She decided to change the subject.

Kuroko nodded, "My very best friend. I love her dearly." Kuroko's voice was soft and fond, the care that she had for the other girl clearly evident in tone and words. She had even switched to a far more informal "watashi" as if the very thought of the other girl relaxed her out of her stiff, formal nature.

In spite of herself, Misaka couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Just yesterday Kuroko had come in here and professed her "full and unconditional" love, yet now she was talking about some other girl in that way? 'If you love her so much then just make out with her and leave me alone,' she thought, a hint of bitterness stinging her heart.

As if sensing her thoughts, Kuroko's hands wound themselves around Misaka's waist as the teleporter nuzzled her chest. "Not in the same way as I love you though, my darling Aneki.

A deep crimson blush overtook Misaka's face as she violently pushed Kuroko away. "Get off... geeze. Do you even know the definition of personal space?"

"Speaking of Uiharu," Kuroko said, ignoring Misaka's words, "I'm going to spend some time with her today, would you like to come, Aneki? I'd love to introduce you two, I'm sure you'd get along great."

Misaka was about to reprimand the other girl for ignoring her when she heard these words and thought about the proposition. Meeting the friend of a friend, it was an interesting offer. If things went well she could walk away with two friends. Considering that it had only been a month ago since she had started referring to Kuroko as her friend, the first friend she had had in years, the prospect of getting another one was surprisingly overwhelming.

But Misaka had not become a level five by being daunted by such pathetic things. "Sure, I don't have anything else to do today."

Kuroko smiled widely at her and went to take a shower in preparation for the coming day.

xxx

An annoying and persistent sound of knuckles on wood rang through Uiharu's small apartment.

Wakefulness slowly kindled in Uiharu's body as she cracked open an eye and wearily sat up, but her tiredness was still weighing down on her like a stone, dulling her senses. She had enough presence of mind to recognize that someone knocking on her door meant that somebody was here to see her.

She wondered if she had made plans with anyone today, but the fogginess in her brain was making it hard for her to focus. Her tired probe into rationality was like swimming through molasses as her brain slowly began to turn on.

She was just about to give up when she realized that it was Sunday. If it was a Sunday then there was only one person that could be knocking on her door. This was enough to stoke the flames of awareness in her and she forced herself to stand up and cross the floor to the threshold. When she got there she opened the door and gave her customary greeting.

"Good morning, Shirai-san... weren't we gonna meet at the diner today?" Uiharu yawned as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Shirai-san? Who is that?! Are you cheating on me with other women?! And after all we've been through!" A familiar voice declared dramatically. "How could you do that to me, Uiharu!?"

"Eh? Saten-san? What are you doing here?" Uiharu asked, opening her eyes to see her friend and partner standing in front of her, covering her eyes and shaking with fake sobs.

Saten Ruiko was Uiharu's classmate. They had first met during the entrance exams of the middle school that the pair went to together. Saten had been sitting behind her during the exams and had sought her out afterwards.

Saten had a very forceful personality and a Kuroko-level difficulty grasping the concept of personal space, as evidenced by the fact that, less than five minutes into their conversation, the level zero had flipped her skirt.

Still, despite the initial embarrassments she had caused, Saten was Uiharu's best friend next to Kuroko and was a very kind-hearted person. When Uiharu had expressed the difficulties she had been having in Judgment with only her and Konori-senpai as branch members, Saten had offered to help. She had gone through the three month long training program to become a member of Judgment, just to give Uiharu a bit of assistance in the office.

Surprisingly, Saten was very skilled at the work, having a natural ability to get along with people and a sharpness that came in handy during countless cases in the past. She was an invaluable addition to the force and a true friend.

The long-haired girl looked at her and winked. "Well, since we wrapped up the case yesterday I was hoping you and I could hang out a bit. I forgot that Sunday was your date night."

Unfortunately, she was as skilled, or perhaps more skilled, at embarrassing Uiharu as before. It was made even worse with her almost inhuman ability to read and understand people. It had taken her less than three days to find out about the kissing session with Shirai-san and she had hardly shut up about it since.

Uiharu knew that Saten was only teasing her, but that didn't stop it from being completely embarrassing. Uiharu's face lit up in a deep blush. "It-It's not a date!" she attempted to defend herself.

Saten made a few kissey gestures. "So are you going back to her place or yours?" She purred, the insinuation clear.

The blush grew deeper and her voice got higher, cracking in embarrassment. "Saten-saaaaan," she whined.

"If it's not a date let me come along."

Uiharu immediately realized the purpose of this visit. Saten hadn't forgotten at all; she had deliberately come in order to get Uiharu to take her along. She had requested it several times before, but Uiharu had always denied, preferring to keep her and Shirai-san's special day together theirs. The level zero had pushed the matter a few times but never this forcefully.

Uiharu could guess why. She had been a little out of it this week and Saten had obviously seen through it. The level zero knew that the cause had something to do with Shirai-san and she wanted to come along to ensure that everything was alright with her best friend.

And if doing so just so happened to satisfy her curiosity then it was a nice little bonus.

Uiharu sighed, her blush dying down. "You're not going to take no for an answer this time are you?"

"Nope," Saten affirmed with a smile.

Uiharu was a little conflicted. On the one hand, her time with Shirai-san was something very precious to her and she did not want anyone to infringe upon it. On the other hand, her friend's concern was touching and she wanted to ease any doubts or worries Saten had.

However, unlike Shirai-san, Uiharu could not teleport, nor was she fast or acrobatic enough to hope to outrun Saten, who she knew would chase her if she tried. So whether or not she was conflicted wouldn't change the fact that Saten would be coming along with her today.

She shook her head in resignation. "Let me shower and get dressed," before attempting to close the door. She found herself unable to close it all the way though, and a brief glance down revealed that this was because Saten had placed her foot in the doorway.

"Mind if I wait inside?" Saten asked, attempting to sound innocent, but unable to fully conceal her grin.

"Yes, I do," Uiharu huffed. She had no problems being naked in front of Shirai-san, but she could never do anything of the sort in front of Saten. The reason for this was twofold. The first being that Saten would inevitably tease her about it, like she always did. It was lighthearted and it didn't exactly hurt her feelings, but it was something to be avoided if possible.

The second reason was not something she'd admit to out loud, but it was probably a bigger part of it. Saten and Konori were both blessed with generous busts for people their age, while Uiharu was flat as a board. However, Shirai-san was even flatter, so being naked in front of each other was more of a boost to her self esteem than anything else, but Saten was a different matter.

"How do I know you won't just sneak through the back door?" Saten pressed, an eyebrow raised.

Uiharu frowned. "My apartment doesn't have a back door, you know that. Now please, let me get changed before I'm late.

As usual, despite her quite insistent pressing of the issue, Saten was smart enough to drop it before it caused any real irritation and withdrew her foot. "Just try and hurry up, there isn't much to do out here."

Uiharu rolled her eyes as she went over to the bathroom, discarding her pajama top and pants on the way. Saten would undoubtedly whittle away her time on some urban legend site on her phone like usual. There was no need to hurry, other than the thought of keeping Shirai-san, who had no such method of distracting herself, waiting.

She tugged her panties off and tossed them in the hamper before stepping into the shower and turning on the cold water. Uiharu's power made the temperature of the water not matter to her comfort anyway, so why waste energy heating it up? Not only that, but the steam that hot showers always threw up made her uncomfortable and light headed.

After a short shower she toweled herself off and left the bathroom, not bothering with a towel as she went to her dresser. She stood in front of it going through her drawers for the outfit she'd wear that day.

She decided to wear pants so that Shirai-san's first impression of Saten-san wouldn't be of someone who flips her skirt in the middle of the street. Then she put on a blouse that was nice enough that she wouldn't look as if she wasn't putting any effort into her appearance with Shirai-san but wasn't nice enough that it looked as if she was putting too much effort in for Shirai-san, which Saten was sure to pick up on and tease her about.

When that was all sorted she put her wreath on her head and began to adjust it in the mirror in the same manner a normal person might fix their hair.

When that was done she mentally prepared herself before stepping outside again.

As expected, Saten-san was sitting on the stairs, looking at her phone. She heard the door open and turned to look at Uiharu and give a smile. The smile was one of happiness rather than mischief. She had really wanted to go and meet this "Shirai-san" for a while and she was truly, sincerely glad that Uiharu finally trusted her enough to introduce them.

It might not seem as if she had any choice, but the two knew each other well enough to know that if Uiharu were to ask Saten to leave it, she would. Uiharu's opposition was sincere, but it wasn't resolute enough for the level one to do so.

Saten stood up, ready to go when Uiharu caught her arm. "Before we go there's some things you need to know." Uiharu was extremely cautious when it came to Shirai-san. The teleporter was fragile and dangerous both, like a shard of glass. The flower-headed girl needed to make sure her best friend wasn't hurt by Saten, or hurt Saten in turn.

Saten raised an eyebrow again, the smile still on her face. "Oh, yeah? You do talk about Shirai-san a lot, but you've never told me much about her. All I really know is that she goes to Tokiwadai."

Uiharu was cautious about letting information about Shirai-san slip when she talked about their weekly meet ups. She wasn't sure how Saten-san would cope knowing about the teleporter's darker side. She wasn't exactly a by-the-book kind of cop, but few, if any, of the people in this city had anything but contempt or pity for delinquents, and she did not want to have to choose between her two best friends if Saten-san were to ever find out and react poorly to it.

"She's a little... weird," Uiharu began, the topic clearly one that caused her discomfort as she tried to find the right words. "She doesn't interact too well with most people, so I apologize for her if she does something to offend you."

"Oh? Is she like really high class and snooty and stuff?" Saten asked, knowing that those were the kind of people that went to schools like Tokiwadai.

Uiharu looked up, considering the question. "Sometimes..." She mused. It was hard to give any sort of definitive guideline for Shirai-san's behavior given her personality.

Saten hooked her arm in Uiharu's and gave a tug. "You can tell me on the way."

Uiharu was surprised for a second, then blushed and took her arm out, though she did begin walking. "She's kind of protective, so you might not want to do that sort of thing. And you might also want to refrain from teasing me and stuff..."

"Jealous girlfriend, got it," Saten chuckled.

Uiharu blushed luminescently, "Saten-san!"

"What, we're not there yet, I have to get it out of my system now if I'm not gonna be able to tease you when we meet her." Saten's words were almost logical, infuriatingly so. "Besides, if you don't want me to tease you about it, then maybe you should stop treating this like you're going to introduce your parents to your girlfriend and instead try and treat this like friends meeting friends."

"Huh?" Uiharu stopped for a second, confused by the other girl's words.

"When you introduce your partner to your parents you're hoping desperately for their approval, because if they don't approve things can get really difficult, maybe they'll even forbid you from seeing that other person. But I'm your friend, not your parent. Even if I end up hating Shirai-san then the worst that can happen is that we don't hang out together, which is exactly the situation that's happening now. I'm not going to stop being your friend just because you have another friend whom I don't like," Saten said. "Besides, you're a good judge of character. I can't see someone who you've decided to befriend being all that bad a person."

"Saten-san..." Uiharu wasn't completely sure what to say to that. As usual her friend had so completely dispelled her worries about the situation with just a few words of wisdom.

After a few minutes of silence she heard Saten-san speak once again. "Hey, those are Tokiwadai uniforms. Is your friend one of them?"

'Those, them?' Uiharu repeated in her head as she looked up. She saw Shirai-san sitting on a handrail on the side of the sidewalk in front of their chosen meeting place for that day. Next to her was another other girl was wearing the same uniform, minus the bandages and bandanas, as Kuroko. The two appeared to be talking to each other, or rather Kuroko appeared to be talking while the other girl listened. Kuroko was oddly comfortable talking to this person, and seemed to be enjoying the one sided conversation.

'Does Shirai-san have any friends at school?' Uiharu thought briefly. Only one came to mind. 'It can't possibly be that person. Shirai-san and I were able to stay friends after the kiss because we're so close. There's no way she could kiss someone she didn't know that well and still be able to talk so enthusiastically with her the next week.'

"Shirai-san," Uiharu called, trying to keep her voice steady and free from the confusion that dominated her mind.

The teleporter turned to look at her and smiled brightly. She hopped off the rail and teleported just in front of Uiharu to envelope her in a hug. "Good to see you again, Uiharu." Her voice was full of happiness. It was something she often heard from Shirai-san, but never this early into their get togethers. Something else must've been responsible for Shirai-san's good mood...or someone.

These thoughts continued to consume her as the teleporter pulled away and looked to the level zero standing beside Uiharu. "You must be, Saten-san. I'm Shirai Kuroko. Uiharu has told me a lot about you. Thank you very much for always taking care of her," Kuroko said with a short bow, her voice full of courtesy and politeness, her ojou-sama nature shining through completely. Uiharu could hear that it was a bit stilted and forced though; obviously she was trying to make a good impression, an effort Uiharu internally thanked her for.

"Really? She hasn't told me much about you," Saten said, her eyes twinkling with the interest of a treasure hunter who had just stumbled across a mountain of gold, "Uiharu never mentioned you were a member of Verdict! I've heard all about you guys from this urban legend website I read. Is it true that your leader is some sort of cyborg? Or that you've defeated over 300 gangs?"

Had Uiharu been paying attention to the level zero's words, she would have become quite worried. She had not expected Saten to be able to tell Shirai-san was a member of Verdict from nothing but a bandana.

It was true that members of Judgment were expected to know of the gangs in their jurisdiction, but the teleporter had always been very careful to avoid her friend's branch, mostly to ensure that Uiharu would never be forced to choose between their friendship and her job. It was also partially because Kuroko was still unsure if she could beat her still greatly admired senpai in combat, or evade Uiharu's almost complete control of the surveillance systems.

But Uiharu was not listening, too focused on the other girl who was approaching them. Her face, with it's oddly handsome features framed with lustrous chestnut hair clipped with a flower pin, was set in the kind of neutral expression one had when one felt conflicting emotions, rather than when one felt nothing at all. "Hi," she said as she reached Uiharu and held out her hand, "you're Uiharu-san then? Kuroko's been telling about you all morning. I'm her roommate, Misaka Mikoto."

An odd feeling spread throughout Uiharu's gut, one she had rarely ever felt before. 'This is the person she was talking about? She doesn't seem all that special to me. But how can it be her in the first place? Surely that kiss should have driven them apart, not together. They're roommates now? And why is she calling her something so familiar? Are they really that close now?' she thought. But she put on a fake smile and shook the other girl's hand. "Hi I'm Uiharu Kazari, Shirai-san's **best** friend. It's nice to met you, Shirai-san has told me a lot about you," she began. 'Like how you tortured her,' she added in her mind bitterly before continuing, "I hope we can get along."

"Likewise," Misaka said, but her own mind was running along oddly parallel lines. 'This is the person Kuroko's been going on about all morning? She doesn't seem all that special to me. What's with her anyway, claiming that she wanted me to be her most important person and then having a best friend she was that close to?'

The pair didn't say anything further, both too jealous and shy to try and fill the increasingly awkward silence.

It soon turned out that they didn't need to. The next second a very girly and undeniably adorable "eep" rang through the area. The next second Kuroko appeared next to Uiharu and Misaka, on the opposite side she had been before, and clung to them both as if they were security blankets, turning them slightly to present a wall between her and Saten.

The level zero had a look on her face that was a familiar and dangerous combination of surprise, pleasure, and intrigue. Her trademark grin started slow but spread to cheshire proportions within seconds, her eyes twinkling brighter than gems.

Uiharu's jaw dropped and her eyes widened as she realized what must have just happened. "Saten-san... you didn't..."

"Hehe, sorry. She just seemed really stiff. I thought it would help break the ice," Saten apologized before her eyes lit up. "On a side note, I like the purple lace but don't you think it should cover more? Those things are practically string."

Saten was a very sharp girl when it came to people and could tell quite a few things about Kuroko simply from her brief interrogation of the teleporter. The other girl was cautious and guarded, hiding behind a veil of high class speech and politeness that completely clashed with the delinquent aura she emitted. Kuroko was obviously as nervous as Uiharu was about impressing the flower-headed girl's other best friend.

Saten wanted to see the real Shirai-san though, so she decided to use her never-fail tactic to draw out a person's true nature: skirt-flipping.

That, and she had not had the chance to flip Uiharu's skirt today and was at risk of suffering withdrawal if she didn't do it to someone. That might also be it.

It didn't take long for the chestnut haired half of Kuroko's shield to realize what had happened, and when she did a slight smile played across her features. "Didn't you tell me you wear those panties so that you won't be embarrassed if they're seen?" Misaka asked.

"There is a big difference between someone seeing my panties for a split second in the middle of a fight and some random girl flipping my skirt in the middle of the street!" the teleporter screeched, sounding shyer than Uiharu did when Saten played the same trick on her, a complete contrast to the image she had presented earlier. She had also switched to third person instead of that formal watakushi from before.

"If you wore shorts neither of those things would be a problem," Misaka pointed out smugly, as if finding a new and damning argument for a long disputed issue.

"I will never wear those vulgar things," Kuroko spat back, her tone far more hostile. Her words were curt and crude and she'd switched from third person to "boku". Finally her speech matched Saten's views on how delinquents usually spoke, which meant she was finally showing her true self, exactly as planned.

Uiharu was still glaring at Saten but turned to Kuroko again. She cleared her throat, "Let's just forget all of this and get something to eat like we planned to."

"Indeed!" declared Saten dramatically. "Let us feast to celebrate this newfound friendship."

"Friendship? You just flipped my skirt, how is that friendship?!" Kuroko shrieked again, back to her third person speech and hiding further behind the others, as if worried that Saten could still flip her skirt, even from this distance.

"It's my kind of friendship. I do it to Uiharu all the time," Saten waved off with a smile that bespoke of no ill intent.

Kuroko glanced at Uiharu. "Is that true, Uiharu?"

The flower headed girl blushed and looked away. "Well... she does it to me every now and then," she admitted.

"Oh, ok then. Well any friend of Uiharu's is a friend of mine so I'm very happy to accept your offer of friendship," Kuroko said, back in her high class watakushi mode. Though still polite it sounded a lot less fake than before. But if she was genuinely like that then was the boku using delinquent an act? What about the shy little girl who spoke in the third person?

Shirai-san had always been a bit of an enigma to Saten. The level zero had thought that meeting her would clear things up, but it just made things more confusing. She was either incredibly complex and masking it extremely well, or she really was as simple as she seemed.

Either way, Saten had made an interesting new friend. She smiled and nodded. "Likewise," then she turned to meet Misaka's curious gaze. "I overheard your name was Misaka-san right? It's nice to meet you as well, I hope we can be good friends."

The girl looked overjoyed, as if she had just won the lottery or something. She didn't seem to be able to believe her luck that she had just made two new friends. She smiled broadly and nodded in return. "I hope we can be good friends as well." Her own speech was considerably less formal than Kuroko's despite obviously coming from a wealthy family, as her enrollment to Tokiwadai proved she had.

There was that same aura of wealth that all rich ojou-sama's seemed to have, but it was a lot more subdued, as if she was content to be a regular girl rather than indulging in... whatever it was that rich girls indulged in.

"Well, if we're going to celebrate then we should celebrate properly. How about we move this to Gateau du Jardin? My treat."

Uiharu immediately perked up at the mention of her favorite cake shop. But Saten was confused. "Is that even Japanese?" Kuroko's way of speaking, or way**s** might be more accurate, made it extremely hard to understand her. It would obviously take a while to get used to, and until then there might be more than a couple of misunderstandings.

"No, it's French," Misaka answered her rhetorical question seriously, "I think I've heard about it from a few of our classmates. Isn't it that really fancy cake shop in the Gardens of Education?"

"Gardens of Education? You mean that walled off area where all those high class schools are?" Saten asked rhetorically. Since her branch's jurisdiction included directly outside one part of the walled region she was quite familiar with it, but she had never been inside there personally.

"Yes," Kuroko confirmed both of their statements, "Kaga-Tsuchi told me about it and I've been there quite a few times with Uiharu. The cake there is extremely good, so it's a great choice for special occasions."

"Sounds great!" Uiharu declared as she began walking off in the direction of the Gardens, practically dragging Kuroko along. Saten chuckled at this. Uiharu was normally so shy, but when it came to work and desserts she could get surprisingly bold.

The four of them soon fell in a line and began talking. Saten continued to pester Kuroko with questions, which Uiharu would scold her for, like a parent telling off a child for swearing, the moment they left her mouth. Kuroko would assure Uiharu that it was fine and answer in a very vague manner that allowed her to answer Saten's question with the bare minimum of details.

This was probably because Saten was a member of Judgment and Verdict was a group of delinquents and criminals in the end. One slip of the tongue and their whole operation might be put in jeopardy.

Not that Saten would do that, but she could understand the caution nonetheless.

However, there were topics which could generate quite a bit of talk from the girl if they were unrelated to how Verdict was run. Such as when Saten asked, "Why do you wear those bandages around your arms?"

There was a few seconds of hesitation, in which Uiharu looked ready to tell her off again, even more forcefully than before judging by the look on her face. Then Kuroko spoke up again, interrupting the other girl's protests. "Protection. These aren't bandages, it's a special tape with a graphene core that can easily stop blades and adds a little more power to my punches."

"But why don't you wear it around your chest like other female delinquents I've seen?" Saten continued.

"You mean a sarashi? I went over this with Aneki before. There are two main reasons they're worn. The original purpose was to act as a layer of protection beneath a samurai's kimonos when one could not wear armor, or at least wished to appear as if one was not protected," Kuroko explained, her manner of speaking switched to an odd sort of archaically formal speech that was similar to the samurai she was describing, "but as useful as that would be, a layer of cloth thick enough to make a difference in addition to the two layers of the Tokiwadai summer uniform would be almost unbearable in this heat. Just thinking about it is making me sweat. I would use the tape but it was hard enough getting this much and it's more important to protect the things that are more likely to get slashed at."

"The other reason," Misaka recalled, joining in on the conversation, "is to bind the breasts so they would not get in the way of combat. And since Kuroko's as flat as a board there isn't much purpose to it. In fact, binding would probably just hinder their growth." Kuroko seemed to react to this with a bit of embarrassment, as if Misaka had just revealed her true reason for not wearing one.

Saten was about to remark to Uiharu on how Konori-senpai could probably use one when the flower-headed girl spoke up on her own. "Been spending much time staring at Shirai-san's chest have you, Misaka-san?"

As she had subtly done this time, Kuroko was trying to involve Misaka in the conversation, though for some weird reason she was calling the other girl "Aneki". Could Misaka be the leader of Verdict? But then where was her green bandana? It was probably just another weird quirk of the teleporter's.

Misaka was all too happy to join in on the conversation, but Uiharu seemed to to take an equal delight in forcing her out again, as she had just done. Her methods were subtle and couldn't be classified as mean in and of themselves, but they were surprisingly petty and passive-aggressive for the flower-headed girl.

Saten instantly knew that something was wrong and it only took two minutes for her to figure out what that something was. There was a love triangle going on here... or the friendship equivalent of one. Uiharu was jealous of Misaka, and Misaka seemed jealous of Uiharu too. Neither of them were too outspoken or hostile with this jealousy, but Saten could see a rivalry quickly building. Kuroko seemed completely oblivious to this, smiling with joy as her two friends seemed to be getting along swimmingly.

It looked like it was up to Saten to defuse this situation before it became too bad. But how would she do that? Uiharu was wearing pants today so flipping her skirt to divert attention wasn't a good idea, and if she flipped Kuroko's skirt again she risked everyone getting mad at her instead.

Saten wasn't exactly a one trick pony, skirt flipping wasn't her one and only solution to all problems, but she didn't know enough about Misaka to know how to deal with the situation, nor did she know any of the history behind why there was this jealousy. There was more to it than simply having the same friend surely...

Saten watched as the situation slowly grew worse, and she was about to do something to intervene when the powers that be (Saten was agnostic so she didn't specify) dropped something right on her lap.

"Hey, watch it bastards," a voice yelled aggressively from down the street.

"How about you assholes stay out of our way," another voice replied equally aggressive.

The noise drew the sight of the four girls and they saw six teenage boys split into two groups of three, facing off against each other. They reeked of testosterone and violence. Not quite delinquents, but typical teenage boys who far too quickly resort to their fists to solve their problems.

If someone didn't step in soon a conflict would be inevitable, and a violent one at that.

Saten's mind immediately entered work mode and she knew she and Uiharu would have to go and mediate.

Thus Saten was a little surprised when she saw Uiharu, usually the most eager of the pair, turn away from the sight of the thugs. Saten tilted her head to get a better look at her flower headed partner and saw her turn to Kuroko and grip the girl's sleeve.

"Don't, please," Uiharu said to the girl, her voice an obvious mixture of stern, desperate, and a tiny bit afraid. "Please leave this to us. Promise me you won't interfere."

"But-" the teleporter began.

"Promise," Uiharu repeated, the sternness becoming more apparent.

"Ok. I promise," Kuroko agreed. Her stance almost imperceptibly changed and this seemed to be enough for Uiharu who turned back around after that. The exchange had carried a hint of familiarity, as if they had gone through it before. But more than that Saten could see melancholy in their eyes, the source of which Saten could only guess at.

UIharu began walking towards the scuffle, Saten close behind her. She glanced briefly back to see a clearly very worried looking Kuroko. Then Misaka put her hand on the other girl's shoulder, and presumably said something because Kuroko cocked her head towards her. The words seemed to relax Kuroko considerably.

Saten turned her attention back to the escalating shouting match going on between the boys they were walking towards as she slipped on her armband.

"What seems to be the problem here?" she asked once they were within earshot. She attempted to sound cheerful and non-threatening while still sounding authoritative and perhaps a bit intimidating. She had been working on it for over a month now, but she still lacked the authoritative nature that made people want to listen to her.

In her time at Judgment, Saten had learned that there were three types of people in Academy City: People who held Judgment agents in contempt and thought that they were all useless at best, and corrupt at worst. Then there were those who actively despised Judgment, whether because they themselves were criminals or had had a bad experience in the past. And then there were those who liked Judgment and appreciated the work they did.

Saten had met about ten people in the third group, and at least three of those were other Judgment agents. She knew at a glance that these six were not part of that group at all.

By the look of it they belonged to the second group, as was made obvious by the glares that they now fixed the pair of girls with. If that wasn't enough the next sentence made it more obvious than a neon sign above their heads. "What does Judgment fucking want?"

Saten and Uiharu both took a couple of steps back under the stern and scary glares of the group, but they didn't back down entirely. "We just saw you guys arguing and wanted to see if there was anything we could do to help sort things out," Saten said diplomatically.

Normally just being interrupted by Judgment was enough to make people back down and wander off, if only because the interruption ruined the "mood", but these people seemed more persistent in their desire to be violent than most. "You Judgement bitches can tell these assholes to get out of our fucking way."

The next few sentences exchanged between the two were filled with more expletives than words. The tension was rising and fists were about to start flying. "Now now, there's no need for violence," Saten began, taking a few more steps back.

"Shut up!" one of them screamed and threw a punch. Unfortunately for Uiharu she was slightly closer to the thug and therefore she ended up being the target. She could do little but flinch as it drew close.

Saten's mind raced as his fist drew closer to her friend, as if in slow motion, trying to think of a way to prevent the blow from landing. Then she saw a flash of light in her periphery as her hair stood on end and a distinctive "biribiri" sound pierced the air. By the time looked in the direction of the flash all six of the hooligans were lying in charred heaps on the ground.

"You guys alright?" Misaka asked, somehow standing behind the thugs. Sparks danced along her fringe and she radiated a kind of power that Saten had never experienced before.

"Misaka-san, what do you think you're doing?! Civilians shouldn't get involved in Judgment business! We were doing just fine on our own!" Uiharu cried out.

"It's not like I did it for you," Misaka replied in a tone that, when matched with her words, immediately served to inform Saten of her personality: a tsundere. "I was just getting tired of waiting and figured I could speed things along."

"What if you had gotten hurt?" Uiharu retorted.

As the words left the flower-headed girl's mouth Saten realized something. Even though they had been getting on terribly they still seemed to care about each other enough to show concern about the others well being.

Whether or not they were jealous of the other didn't change the fact that they were friends now, and Saten knew that Uiharu would do anything to protect a friend. It seemed that Misaka was much the same way.

Maybe Saten didn't need to do anything to mediate between them, perhaps they'd just work through it on their own time.

"As if Aneki could be hurt by such common thugs. She is a level five, after all," Kuroko boasted on Misaka's behalf, suddenly appearing next to the level five in question. "Only someone like myself could hope to match her."

Misaka rolled her eyes at the praise and scoffed at the teleporter's final declaration. Misaka was by far the most modest of the level fives when it came to her level of power. She was always fully ready to admit that she wasn't invincible and that being a level five didn't mean she could do anything she wanted.

However her modesty was tempered by a brash arrogance. While she would be quick to admit that her level five status made her no different from anyone else, she hypocritically considered herself above just about everyone else in combat ability. Any claims that someone was her equal or, god forbid, her superior in combat would usually be settled with a quick bolt of lightning to show just how wrong they were. For Kuroko there was a non-violent way to prove just the same however, "You have yet to win a single fight against me, Kuroko."

Normally this would be enough to send Kuroko on a rant about how she hadn't been really trying in their bouts so far and an immediate demand for another rematch to prove that she was the stronger of the two.

However right now she was more concerned with other things than a silly feud. The teleporter took a step forward to the two Judgment agents and placed her hand on the flower headed girl's cheek, checking for any injuries. "Are you ok, Uiharu?" She asked, her voice full of a concern that was usually directed at Kuroko by Uiharu rather than this way around.

Uiharu, who had been frowning with jealousy at Kuroko's pride in Misaka's abilities the past couple seconds, looked surprised by this expression of worry. Then she looked ashamed that she had been surprised and reassured Kuroko with, "I'm fine, he didn't touch me." Then another frown pulled at Uiharu's mouth, this time one of disapproval. "Didn't you promise that you wouldn't get involved?"

"I didn't. Aneki said that the sun was in her eyes so I teleported her ahead. What she did after that is completely unrelated to me. I will try to tell her to control herself better next time though," Kuroko said in a faux-stern voice while sending a wink the electro master's way.

Saten barely registered all of this though, as a much more pressing piece of information had just registered in her brain. "Wait... you're a level five MIsaka-san?"

"Ahh, yeah," Misaka said, scratching the back of her head as if embarrassed at the fact. The electro master's eyes briefly darted towards Kuroko and Uiharu, sending the pair short glare of irritation at having been ignored by Kuroko in favor of Uiharu. Then her attention turned back to Saten.

"Lightning... you must be the Railgun then! I've heard about you. Is it true you were once a level one?" Saten asked.

Much like most level zeroes, Saten had once had an unfair resentment towards people with powers, especially the level fives at the top. Had she been told she was going to meet a level five she doubtlessly would have made all sorts of assumptions to the kind of person she was before even meeting her. Self esteem issues and endless worry about if she would ever become strong enough to get a power had once dominated her subconscious and whittled away her confidence every day that she stayed a level zero.

Judgement had changed that though. Despite how often the job was little more than endless stacks of paperwork, there were several times when Saten had seen firsthand how much she had helped people, whether in small ways or big ways. She managed to do a whole lot of good without any power at all. So who cared if she had one or not?

Because of that, and because she had already gotten a good glimpse of Misaka's pleasant personality before this shocking reveal, any resentment she might have felt towards the status of the electro master was completely overwritten by excitement at meeting such an interesting person.

After all, according to some rumors Verdict had over five-hundred members, but there were only seven level fives in the entire world. And she was talking with one of them right now.

From the expression on her face Saten could tell that Misaka seemed to be feeling an odd combination of emotions. She was clearly quite used to being interrogated in this manner, being a level five and all, and found it quite a hassle to have to go through it all again. On the other hand she was also glad to be part of a conversation with a new friend, no matter what was being discussed.

A short distance away, Uiharu had a victorious look on her face as Kuroko fussed over her and Misaka was forgotten.

They resumed walking, this time divided into two groups. With Uiharu and Kuroko walking out in front as Saten and Misaka walked behind. The conversations were segregated as well.

Misaka seemed a little uneasy about this. Her eyes frequently darted out in front to the two old friends in front of them. However she did at least attempt to keep focus on her conversation with Saten, as if trying to hide her extremely obvious jealousy.

Saten briefly juggled her curiosity over Misaka's status as a level five and her curiosity over Misaka as a person, and her relationship with Kuroko.

It wasn't a difficult fight between those two thing, as Saten had always cared more about people and how they ticked than their powers. "So what's up with you and Shirai-san anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Misaka asked, confused both by the question and the sudden change of topic.

"Are you two classmates or something?" she asked.

"Oh, no. I'm a year above her. We are roommates though." Misaka looked off to the side, as if deliberating with herself whether or not to say something. It seemed she decided not to in the end because it was silent after that.

"I see... why does she call you Aneki?" Saten continued.

Misaka stopped for a second and considered the question briefly. Her eyes drifted towards the teleporter in front of them, finally looking without that jealousy and resentment that her other glances had held. As she looked a small smile played upon her lips. "She's a bit special..." the electro master answered and continued walking.

Saten watched her, slightly confused. 'Perhaps it's not a friendship triangle... maybe it is a love triangle after all,' Saten wondered.

A grin spread on the level zero's face as she glanced between her three friends. 'I'm so glad I followed Uiharu. I got to make such interesting new friends..."

Author's Note: Well here it is, the introduction of Saten and the meeting of the four friends.

Because of the difference from canon I thought it would be interesting to think about how the relationships between them would be different.

Uiharu's also so sweet and kind so I thought giving her a bit of a rivalry with Misaka, who she really admired and respected in canon, which could show a different side of her would be nice. At first it was going to be completely one sided (considering Misaka's a beautiful, smart, rich, level five it's still a bit one sided) but I decided to make Misaka reciprocate it, making for a bit more excitement. In the end they're still friends, and they're still themselves (people who would do anything to help a friend) but the rivalry will still surface from time to time.

Saten and Kuroko have hardly any interaction in canon, certainly very little meaningful interaction. I think it's because she and Kuroko don't really have anything which could spark off a meaningful interaction, they seem to exist on separate planes. In this though she's way more interesting to Saten than she was in canon (a delinquent from a legendary gang is more interesting than a student cop to her, and most people) so I feel that they would have more interaction from the beginning which kind of sets the pace for how I hope to make them throughout.

There was a bit of an issue I was having though. In both this and canon Kuroko is a catalyst for the relationship between the four. She was the one with the link to both Misaka and Uiharu after all. In this she also sets up the relationship between 2 of the four revolving around a rivalry for Kuroko's affection. Because of this everything seems to revolve around Kuroko, which is something I really don't want. For this chapter I definitely had Saten set up that same link with Misaka she has in canon, which is one relationship at least that has nothing to do with Kuroko, and I hope to develop the other relationships away from that direction as well, keeping the teleporter an integral part, while avoiding having everything revolve around her.


End file.
